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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30049020">WILDFLOWER</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwisneakers/pseuds/kiwisneakers'>kiwisneakers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Drama, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Grief/Mourning, High School, M/M, Makeover, Teenage Drama, Weight Issues, fatphobia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:34:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,431</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30049020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwisneakers/pseuds/kiwisneakers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Just in time for her third and final year at Karasuno High, Kano Abe's mother forced upon her a transformative makeover. </p><p>No more glasses.<br/>No more braces.<br/>Hello haircut.<br/>Goodbye forty pounds.<br/>Meet the girls' volleyball club, Kano. </p><p>But the only person in the whole school who finds her sudden transformation as strange as she does is Ryunosuke Tanaka, the loud mouth Kano's been reluctantly tutoring for the last two years. <br/>And with her explosive debut at the girls vs boys volleyball scrimmage, she's on everyone's radar... </p><p>So how will Tanaka rise above the noise to make her finally notice him?</p><p>- Updates Saturdays -</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Kozume Kenma/Original Character(s), Oikawa Tooru/Original Female Character(s), Tanaka Ryuunosuke/Original Female Character(s), Ukai Keishin/Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Playlist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Playlist</b>
</p><p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Roses</b>
  <span> by The Band CAMINO</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>A lot’s been changing lately and I can’t tell</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>If it’s me or if it’s everybody else</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>But I’m done wasting my time on the woe is me bullshit</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>That’s keeping me from being myself</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Everything Makes Me Sad</b>
  <span> by SAINTE</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I always forget</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>to pull myself back together</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Good As It Gets</b>
  <span> by Little Hurt</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Looking for love in the trash,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>If I had it, I wouldn’t know how to keep it</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Supalonely </b>
  <span>by BENEE (feat. Gus Dapperton)</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I know I fuck up</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I’m just a loser</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>these are my friends</b>
  <span> by lovelytheband</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We are the weirdos, inflated egos,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>The filthy misbehaved</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>i don’t really like your boyfriend</b>
  <span> by Avenue Beat</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I gave him a try,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>But then he made you cry,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>So tell that boy goodbye</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Sucker</b>
  <span> by Jonas Brothers</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m a sucker for you</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>You say the word</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>And I’ll go anywhere blindly</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Giants</b>
  <span> by Lights</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If we could come up,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>No one ever would defy us</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Top of the world</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>We’ll be sitting at the highest</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>See Through</b>
  <span> by The Band Camino</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How do I get your attention?</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>How does it feel to always have mine?</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>How do I address this tension?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Kiss U Right Now</b>
  <span> by Duckwrth</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I think I wanna kiss you</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Right here in front of everybody</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Right now</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Talk Too Much</b>
  <span> by COIN</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You know I talk too much</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Honey, come put your lips on mine</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>And shut me up</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Kids in Love</b>
  <span> by The Mowgli’s</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Kids in love will do almost everything</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Kissing in the dark</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>When no one’s looking</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Quiet</b>
  <span> by EXES</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’ll meet you in a secret place</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Kissing in the dark is safe</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I know you want to hold me the right way</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Trust</b>
  <span> by Jonas Brothers</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Thinkin’ bout my lips upon your mouth, yeah</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Got me weak in the knees, my god, can’t breathe</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Easy</b>
  <span> by Alice Kristiansen</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Would you mind sleeping under stars?</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Cause I couldn’t stand it</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>If we missed our chance to take it too far</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>buzz cut</b>
  <span> by lovelytheband (feat. MisterWives)</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She’s my future, forgive my past</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>So used to being cynical</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>She’s something like a miracle</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Coloring Outside the Lines</b>
  <span> by MisterWives</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Open my eyes</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>To see you and I</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Can’t believe this is life</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>We’re coloring outside the lines</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>New Religion</b>
  <span> by The Heydaze</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m watching you dancing in the kitchen</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I could call you my new religion</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Loser</b>
  <span> by Julian Moon</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Just two weirdos who fell in love</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I guess we’re made from the same weird stuff</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Being a loser with you doesn’t suck</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Wildflower</b>
  <span> by 5SOS</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I hear you callin’ out my name</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I love the sound,</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>I love the taste</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Lightning in a Bottle</b>
  <span> by The Summer Set</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We’re running on</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>Perfectly wasted youth</span>
  </em>
  <em></em>
    <span></span>
      <br/>
    
  
  <em>
    <span>I’ll hold you close</span>
  </em>
  <em>
    <span>
      <br/>
    </span>
  </em>
  <em></em>
  <span>We’ll call this home tonight</span>
</p><p>
  <b>Bang!</b>
  <span> by AJR</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Let’s go out with a bang</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Ch.1 - The Dark Horse</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Oh no, Kiwi got into another fandom without finishing her 1000 other wips...<br/>Someone get the spray bottle.<br/>BAD KIWI! BAD! </p>
<p>D:</p>
<p>Fair warning, I am not done catching up on the anime, so things might be a little wayward/non-canon... but isn't all fanfiction? c:</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I went back and edited some stuff, found some errors, fixed things. I was so excited to post this that I didn't edit properly v-v </p>
<p>sorry friends; it should be way better now</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano Abe was only twelve when it happened. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A boy in her math class - pre-algebra at that age - turned around during the middle of quiet group work time and hissed, “No one will ever love you…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re too fat.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her </span>
  <em>
    <span>alleged</span>
  </em>
  <span> best friend, Reika Sato, sat beside her, their desks pressed together like two life rafts roped together in a storm, and Reika said nothing. She panicked. All Reika managed was a weak gasp as she gaped at him, mind spinning, before settling on pretending like she hadn’t heard him at all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Kano heard him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Loud. And. Clear. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just before his crude interruption, Reika and Kano had been muttering about the newest episode of their favorite anime, Space Heroines Team Trio, talking about their crushes of the two-dimensional variety (because </span>
  <em>
    <span>how cute</span>
  </em>
  <span> was that Masked Suit guy?! And Lady Cassiopeia was kinda cute too…) while they worked on their problem sets… then the boy diverted from his group to say the words that would haunt Kano for the rest of her life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It felt like a curse, the way he muttered those nine little words, like he’d foreseen Kano Abe’s fate and sealed it in stone by uttering it aloud. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When neither Reika nor Kano fought his sudden proclamation, too stunned for words, the boy smirked a lopsided grin at them and turned back to his homework without another word, seemingly satisfied with the verbal destruction he’d wrought. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He never spoke to either of them ever again. </span>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hate this,” Kano muttered, turning in front of her mother’s mirror. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her new uniform for senior year felt all wrong, touching her in weird places and hugging strange new curves she’d never owned before. Had her legs always been this long? In the new skirt, they seemed to go on for miles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mom wheezed from her bed in an attempt at a laugh, watching with a soft smile on her puffy, steroid-swollen face. “You look great, sweetheart,” she whispered, taking a few pictures on her phone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cringing at the photos and the flash, Kano frowned at her. “It’s the first day of school, Ma. I’ll look just as terrible tomorrow, I promise,” she said, marching over to fluff her pillows and fuss over her for just a few more seconds. Anxiety swelled in her ribs like someone decided to cram every bug in the world into the space between her lungs, clattering and skittering. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But it’s your </span>
  <em>
    <span>last</span>
  </em>
  <span> first day,” she reminded gently. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>An ominous undertone ribboned through Mama Abe’s comment, causing Kano to break out in unwelcome goosebumps before plowing ahead like nothing had happened. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she grumbled. Moving her things around on her bedside table, Kano pushed her mother’s pills and water bottle within reach and set her phone charger close by. “I gotta go. The boys and I will be home late, remember… I’ve got my first practice of the year.” Kano kissed her mom on the cheek and raced from the room. “Text me if you need anything. I can run home on my lunch break if you do.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mother waved Kano off with a tired hand and a smile. “Stop worrying. This old bird can take care of herself, you know.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowing in her doorway, Kano watched as her mom turned on the TV, flipped it to the English channels, and shooed her daughter again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you,” Kano blurted, lingering, heart pounding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you too, sweetheart. Now go enjoy your senior year.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Easier said than done, Ma. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, Kano still left.</span>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>Karasuno looked just as foreboding and bleak as she remembered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe worse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...The rain probably didn’t help.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In her black rain boots, Kano stood alone on the sidewalk out front, letting the drizzle bounce off of her yellow umbrella as she steeled herself. In the back of her mind, she accepted that she’d never really thought she’d make it this far… to senior year. To the end. She always assumed that somewhere along the way, fate would intervene and cut her short. But against all odds… somehow, someway, she survived this long. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Now what?” She whispered to herself, staring at the school buildings. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Nothing answered except the continual </span>
  <em>
    <span>shush</span>
  </em>
  <span> of rain on the pavement. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a deep lungful of air, brisk with rain and springtime, Kano sighed, “I guess... we keep moving forward. Right, dad?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Miraculously, things were different the moment Kano set foot on campus. A boy materialized beside her as if out of thin air, his face right up under her umbrella and in her personal space, and blurted, “Need help finding your way around, cutie? I’m a senior, so I know my way-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m a senior too, asshole,” Kano replied automatically, breezing past him without stopping. “Boy, bye.” She rolled her eyes and continued toward the main building, gripping her umbrella with white-knuckled hands as she avoided the bigger puddles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Whatever the fuck that was… I don’t like it. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She almost made it to her shoe locker, but a girl stopped Kano this time, tapping Kano’s umbrella with hers at the third years’ rack. “Good morning!” She beamed, dyed-blonde hair flawless and grin model-white as she said, “You must be new here! I’m-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What the fuck?</span>
  </em>
  <span> “I know who you are, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Isamu Inoue, </span>
  </em>
  <span>you facetious bitch,” Kano said, hissing her name like a curse upon her lips, “You put eggs in my locker before summer break in first year. When I came back, my stuff smelled like hot garbage for weeks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t forget your bitch ass if I tried. And trust me, I have.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Isamu Inoue stumbled away from Kano, eyes wide, terror flickering in her expression. “K-K-Kano? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Kano Abe?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The one and fuckin’ only,” Kano grinned, slamming her umbrella into the rack with a splash and pushing past Isamu toward her shoe locker, holding in every extra curse word that rattled around in her brain toward her personal bully. Unsure where this newfound courage or badassery came from, Kano decided not to get in its way… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until she remembered that Isamu Inoue was the star girl of their graduating class, the class pet, the golden girl of Karasuno senior high… then Kano began to mentally shit her pants. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She may have just fucked her senior year over before it even started. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Congratulations, asshole. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Welcome to hell.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>During his last class of the day, Ryunosuke Tanaka nearly fell asleep. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In the computer lab, his Video Photography teacher was droning on about something or other - probably the stupid syllabus - but then, Tanaka noticed something </span>
  <em>
    <span>blinking</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He frowned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he refocused on the light. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A dim, crimson, ember glow flickered behind the monitor of his computer, glancing off of the shiny tabletop. With careful fingers, Tanaka reached behind his screen and felt around among the thick cords and smooth cables, stumbling upon a USB drive sticking out of the back of the monitor. When his finger brushed over the rounded, plastic end of it, the light dimmed on the desk. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Huh. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Retracting his arm, Tanaka logged into the computer as quietly as possible as the teacher began to play Back to the Future on the projector screen at the front of the class, mentally thanking his past self for choosing a computer in the back of the room. After a few clicks and taps, Tanaka pulled up the Devices screen… and he stared at the little flash drive’s icon. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Its owner renamed it Mikey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Automatically thinking of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tanaka snorted, sneering and ducking his head when his closest classmates shot glares at him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Focus!</span>
  </em>
  <span> He sucked his teeth and clicked on the USB icon, surprised to find it chock full of image files. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>WONDER 001, WONDER 002, WONDER 003...</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>This is pretty snoopy and weird,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought to himself while his hand hovered over the mouse, mulling over his options, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I wouldn’t want someone else looking through my shit, especially at school… but how else am I gonna return the dumb thing if I don’t look for a name? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So he clicked on the first file… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And started reading. </span>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>It turned out that the hardest part of senior year wasn’t the finality or the “transitions” the teachers reminded the students about every five seconds or even the foreboding sense of impending doom…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It was the stupid girls’ volleyball team. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Official</span>
  </em>
  <span> practice started that very first day after school, even though Kano scrimmaged or unofficially practiced with some of the girls over break nearly every day in some capacity or another. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her mother masterminded that little scheme herself… before the surgery, obviously. It was only one step of her multifaceted plan for Kano’s perfect future, loosely titled “Operation Chrysalis: Makeover Kano for Senior Year”. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The worst part? Her mom didn’t have to live with the repercussions, the results of the makeover rippled into every aspect of Kano’s life. Kano was the doll and her mother was the puppet master... And Kano felt she had to follow her mother’s every beck and whim and call on top of taking care of her mom and the house and the kids and school and clubs... </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But… Only one more year of dependence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Then Kano was flying the coop... and maybe never coming back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Sorry, Mom. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But that still meant </span>
  <em>
    <span>one year</span>
  </em>
  <span> of the girls’ volleyball team breathing down her neck... </span>
  <em>
    <span>on top</span>
  </em>
  <span> of all of her other shit. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she tried to find a bright side. If only to survive it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Easily the best part of joining the volleyball club involved coaching the fledgling members through moves and plays Kano learned in elementary school, moves she could do in her sleep: bumps, sets, spikes, serves, the lingo, the rules… all of it flooded back the instant she smelled the pleather volleyballs, the wax on the hardwood, and the hard-earned sweat. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Admittedly, a lot of memories she tried really hard to ignore or forget also resurfaced, hand in hand with the susurrus of the rolling ocean, the warmth of sun-baked sand, cool aloe vera on sunburns, and the slick of coconut lotion. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Childhood. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most of the second and third years didn’t even recognize Kano when she walked into Gym 1 after class that first day of school. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And that’s fine... She felt awkward enough in the tight spandex shorts and her new court shoes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Abe! Good to see you!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Startling out of her childhood memories, Kano found the vice-captain of the girls’ club, Motoyo Maeda, jogging over with her perma-smile. Her curly, dark hair had already been pulled up into a bun on top of her head, and she tied off the front of her white Karasuno t-shirt just under her sports bra, revealing the smallest peek at her abs above her high-waisted black spanx. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Damn her and her supermodel body. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just behind her, lingering awkwardly as she tied her sneakers, was Reika… Kano’s ex-best-friend. Reika ducked her head when she noticed Kano, hiding behind her shoulder-length curtain of new, lavender-dyed hair. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Coward.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Kano waved to both of them with a half-hearted smile. “Same here. Happy new school year, you two,” she said. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ready to meet the whole club?” Motoyo grinned, bouncing on her tiptoes. “I’m stoked for our scrimmage with the boys this Saturday, too! You’re gonna blow ‘em out of the water with those moves of yours!” She threw a few faux punches in Kano’s direction out of sheer excitement. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Eyeing the shadow boxing with concern, Kano pulled her swath of ink-black hair up into a ponytail and raised an eyebrow. “Scrimmage?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, didn’t you hear? Reika said she’d-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Reika shuffled awkwardly over to join the two girls, a grimace prominent on her freckled cheeks. “Sorry, yeah, I- I meant to find you at lunch.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Likely story. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No big deal,” Kano lied, grabbing her water bottle from her backpack before leaving it against the gym wall. “I was in the computer lab during lunch, working on college applications, anyway. Let’s just focus on kicking the boys’ butts, yeah?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah! Let’s do this, Dark Horse!” Motoyo beamed, pumping her fist. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Pausing mid-hairstyle, Reika followed after Motoyo as she bounded off toward the nets, glancing at Kano for some kind of clarification. Kano only shrugged. “D-Dark Horse?” Reika asked, reading her ex-best-friend’s mind like she always used to… or at least translating the confusion on Kano’s face. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Throwing up a goofy peace sign, Motoyo giggled and explained, “Every secret weapon needs a fitting nickname, right? With that long, shiny ponytail and her mysterious allure, Kano Abe is now… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The Dark Horse of the Karasuno girls’ volleyball club!”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ch.2 - The Messenger</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, Kano Abe started her third and final year at Karasuno High. She returned to school after a forced, surprise makeover from her mother, which surprised her fellow classmates and left Kano scrambling to figure out how to navigate the social waters of school once more. At the end of her first day, Kano found out about a boys vs. girls scrimmage with both volleyball clubs, and was dubbed the Dark Horse of Karasuno by the girls' club vice-captain. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Ryunosuke Tanaka found a mystery flash drive in his computer during class. He wrestled with the moral problems of looking through someone else's things, but decided he HAD to see what was inside in order to return it...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A/N: sorry if you've already read this chapter. In my excitement to start posting this story, I skipped deep editing and went ahead to post the first two chapters; immediately I knew that the chapters weren't ready and spent many hours last night fixing them up. </p>
<p>Both chapter 1 and chapter 2 are up to my standards now. Sorry for the mess. <br/>That's what happens when I get into a new fandom and write a fic unsupervised ;3;</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>After the club meeting, Kano Abe didn’t have time to rest. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Drenched in sweat, she whipped her water bottle into her bag with her court shoes and waved to the girls, racing from the gym and into the melting afternoon twilight. Karasuno seemed deserted, but the squeak of shoes as she bolted past Gym 2 reminded her that the boys were still practicing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In her street shoes, the black rubber rain boots from that morning, Kano ran the handful of miles from Karasuno to Chidoriyama Junior High - hardly noticing the untamed rural scenery or the elongating evening shadows or the neighborly passers-by - where Kano’s personal troop of hormonal teenage idiots waited outside on a bench. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kanooo,” Yasuo (the middle) sang, brightening up at the sight of his big sister rounding the border wall. He stood first, with his brothers distractedly following suit. Yukio and Yoshi bent their heads over Yoshi’s gray Nintendo Switch, which he’d somehow snuck to school in his backpack, but they both waved to Kano without looking. The glow of some game lit their identical faces, colors flickering in the mirror of their eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rolling his eyes at his preoccupied brothers, Yasuo turned his attention on Kano. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Onii-san,</span>
  </em>
  <span> I’m hungryyy,” he complained, leaning on Kano as she stumbled close and caught her breath. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She ruffled his dark, spiked-up hair and chuckled dryly, sending herself into a coughing fit. Gripping her knees for stability, she tried to find air that agreed with her again. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Shouldn’t have sprinted the whole way, huh?</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her choking drew attention from the two distracted siblings. “You okay, sis?” Yukio (the youngest) asked, glancing up from the video game with concern in his dark eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finally, her lungs stopped bitching, and she straightened up a bit. “Peachy,” Kano gasped, glancing up to jerk her head toward home. “What’s for dinner, nerds?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At the mention of food, the triplets swarmed her and launched into a tornado of conversation, arguing about whether pizza rolls or taquitos were superior, microwave mochi or instant rice, even melon pan or red bean buns. They were nearly home when Kano put a stop to the nonsense. “Listen, you’ll be eating from the trash if you don’t settle on something,” she said, fishing her keys from the side pocket of her backpack, “And I made eggs this morning, so it’ll be a tremendously stinky boy.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ewww</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” they groaned in unison, gaping and frowning at their prospects. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yoshi, the quietest of the bunch and the eldest, finally cut in with a tentative suggestion. “Pizza?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano had to admit, pizza sounded low maintenance </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> delicious. “Boys? Thoughts?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t forget the black olives!” Yasuo screeched, racing past to charge up the apartment complex steps toward the house. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yukio sprinted after him, his shoulder-length black hair whipping away from his face in the breeze. “And jalapenos!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Alone in the parking lot, Yoshi and Kano continued toward the house with a communal sigh. “They can have their own pizza,” she decided with a lazy wave of her hand. Peeking down at her most introverted brother, she looped an arm around his shoulders and leaned her head on his. “Pineapple and pepperoni for us?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He nodded. “You know me so well, onii-san.”</span>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you guys hear the news?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Early the next morning during a water break, the entirety of the Karasuno boys’ volleyball club sat around on the laminate wood floor of the gym, waiting for the other shoe to drop. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Rumors on the second day of school? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Sign them up!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Supposedly... the girls’ team has some kind of secret weapon this season,” Kageyama said, leaning back on his hands as sweat poured down his face, “Brand new player with ridiculous talent, I heard.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“First year?” Nishinoya asked between chugs of water. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kageyama shook his head. “If the rumors are true, it’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>a third year.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She’s never played for the school or any volleyball club before, but she was trained,” he said, pausing for dramatic effect, “by </span>
  <em>
    <span>an Olympian.</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A collective gasp rattled through the team before they all began chattering at the same time, all of their questions pointed toward Kageyama, their primary source of information. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait wait wait, like, a transfer kid? From where…?” Hinata muttered, frowning to himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why would an Olympic-trained athlete transfer to </span>
  <em>
    <span>our</span>
  </em>
  <span> girls’ team?” Tanaka blurted. “That doesn’t make </span>
  <em>
    <span>any</span>
  </em>
  <span> damn sense.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yamaguchi sighed and leaned back on his hands, softly adding, “And why wait until third year to join the team?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I dunno,” Kageyama shrugged, sipping his water and eyeing the carton of milk in his backpack. “I’m just telling you what I heard... Don’t shoot the messenger.” </span>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano’s first week didn’t finish too badly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There were a lot of weird looks in her direction, which she chalked up to her altercation with Isamu that first morning. Isamu Inoue held the title of the Queen Bee of Karasuno, so Kano assumed she probably upset the school’s delicate homeostasis or something by standing up to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the strange looks lingered into the end of the week, and Kano didn’t really know what to think. She had too much going on to bother asking anyone about it, anyway. Between art club, student council (which she was considering dropping), volleyball, and taking care of her family, Kano hardly had time for college apps or homework or sleep… so she </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> didn’t have time for gossip. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Keeping her head down and her lips shut like always, Kano tried to avoid disturbing the waters any more than she already had. Being curvier, being </span>
  <em>
    <span>fat</span>
  </em>
  <span>, bought her some anonymity, and she missed that… people paid more attention now that she lost weight and got her mini makeover. She missed a lot of things about her pre-makeover self, though. Kano just didn’t have time to worry or think too hard about it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Because she had far more pressing matters at hand… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Like the fact that she couldn’t find her fucking flash drive. </span>
</p>
<p><span>ANY other flash drive and she’d be calm and collected. No offense to Donny, Raph, or Leo, but Mikey protected the </span><em><span>only</span></em><span> digitized version of her art school portfolio, so he was </span><em><span>a little</span></em> <em><span>bit</span></em><span> more important than her other USBs. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>You know, just a LITTLE.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the biggest problem was that she didn’t have any friends to help her look for Mikey. Because Reika and Kano weren’t on speaking terms anymore, Kano now performed at school as a one-woman show. Reika held the title of Kano’s only friend ever since the Abe family moved to Miyagi prefecture when the triplets were born. The girls met at a function for Mrs. Abe’s work, and the rest was history… Kano was five then, so their friendship essentially lasted their whole lives. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Now… Kano had no one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Obviously she told the other members of the art club at their first meeting of the new school year - and she reiterated how important Mikey was, like, </span>
  <em>
    <span>fifty</span>
  </em>
  <span> times - and Kano told every art and computer teacher in Karasuno in case someone turned it into them. She hesitated, but ended up telling the volleyball club about Mikey too. Just to be safe or whatever. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But as the first week of classes wound down… still no sign of Mikey. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which meant no applications for art school… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And maybe, somehow, that was a blessing in disguise. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Art school was Kano’s dream and not her mother’s, which caused more tension in their household than anything else. As a doctor - </span>
  <em>
    <span>a pediatrician</span>
  </em>
  <span> - Mrs. Namiko Abe forced her daughter into college prep classes and extra hard courses, because she expected and demanded big things from Kano. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her motto was, “If I can do it, you can do it”. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...But Kano didn’t want to. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Kano could choose for herself, she’d apply to art schools, both in Japan and the States, and maybe other, further countries too. She’d see the world, broaden her horizons, and leave her bumpkin little prefecture for the first time in a long time. She’d publish graphic novels and comics and show everyone that her art is </span>
  <em>
    <span>real art</span>
  </em>
  <span> and that her stories were worth sharing with the world… that they were worth escaping into. Just like she’d always done herself. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That’s why she’d been working on an art school portfolio behind her mother’s back. To prove to her mother - and maybe a little to herself - that she could make it in. And some part of her thought that by applying, it would make her dad proud. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But maybe… maybe the universe was trying to tell Kano something, what with Mikey missing. By not returning him to her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it meant Kano was supposed to listen to her mother. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe it meant art </span>
  <em>
    <span>wasn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> her calling. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With that sobering thought ricocheting around in her mind as she sat in English and zoned out a little, Kano Abe dejectedly listed out her mother’s career options along the margins of her notes, preparing for the next shitty phase of her life. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Doctor? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Lawyer? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Politician? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Business woman? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Underneath all of those, she added </span>
  <em>
    <span>DOCTORATE</span>
  </em>
  <span> and then underlined it twice. Maybe it didn’t matter the major, so long as she attained the title of doctor…?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Guess I’d have to ask mom. Since she seems to have my future all planned out. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Kano sighed and chewed on her thumbnail, considering her options. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Better than a desk job. And I like school… </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>It could be worse. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Somehow, it could be worse. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>...Couldn’t it?</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Ch.3 - The Fuck Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, Kano picked up her three younger brothers after her volleyball practice from their middle school (Chidoriyama) and they headed home for pizza. We found out that they're triplets named Yoshi (the eldest), Yasuo (the middle), and Yukio (the youngest). </p><p>During a water break at volleyball, Kageyama relayed a rumor he'd heard to the rest of the club about a mysterious new girl in the girls' volleyball club that supposedly been trained by an Olympic athlete.</p><p>We found out that the flash drive that Tanaka found in chapter 1 is Kano's; Mikey has her digitized art school portfolio on it, and she took his disappearance as an omen that maybe art school wasn't the path she was supposed to be pursuing after high school.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(March 16 2021) Just a reminder, I went back and HEAVILY EDITED the first two chapters yesterday, so please go back and reread them if you haven't already k thx sorry ;3;</p><p>I was too excited about posting and forgot to fix stuff v-v</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p><p>“You’re looking a little lost there, gorgeous.”</p><p>Cringing at the unwelcome nickname, Kano bared her teeth instinctively and looked for the source of the voice. In the flickering, warming lights of the gym on that first Saturday of the new school year, she spotted a handful of boys setting up volleyball nets across the way. The nearest one seemed to have spoken, the one with the shock of light bangs at the front of his dark, spiked-up hair, a bag of balls from the club room tossed over his shoulder. His devilish eyes raked over her, lingering on her knee-high socks, exposed thighs, and black spandex shorts.</p><p>
  <em>Ugh.</em>
</p><p>“You gonna give me directions then, dick cheese, or just continue to take fap photos in your nasty-ass mind for later?” she spat, cradling her water bottle under her arm. His name lingered in the back of Kano’s mind, face familiar, but she was too angry to try to remember it.</p><p>Something with an N.</p><p>Mentally, Kano cringed; she’d raced out the door without food or coffee that Saturday morning, so she idled in Raging Bitch Mode. But a few of the boys chuckled behind the penguin-esque pervert, causing a smirk to pull taut at Kano’s lips. At least her comebacks were still fire even at seven in the morning. <em>I guess having three teenage brothers will do that to a girl.</em></p><p>But, for some mysterious reason, the bitterness of guilt rose up inside of her. So she backtracked. “Sorry. I’m looking for the girls’ volleyball team. I thought we were meeting in here,” Kano explained, managing to stifle her yawn until after she finished her reasoning.</p><p>“They usually warm up in Gym 1 before we scrimmage,” explained another boy, tall as shit and wiry like a string bean, his glasses flashing in the light as he passed by, “No harm, no foul, save for your sailor mouth.”</p><p>Holding her tongue, Kano nodded to the helpful boy. “Thanks, telephone pole.”</p><p>“Sure,” the two of them answered in unison.</p><p>Their eyes lingered on Kano as she left, a wholly new and unexpected experience for her. Maybe it was the forty pounds she’d lost over break that made them stare like that. Or the contacts. Or finally getting her braces off… Or possibly the new haircut.</p><p>Honestly, it was <em>probably</em> her potty mouth at the asscrack of dawn.</p><p>But even if it wasn’t the foul language, Kano didn’t sign up for a senior year makeover, and she didn’t ask for the consequences, either. Unfortunately, when her mother set her mind on something, she got it… fuck the repercussions and fuck whoever had to deal with them.</p><p>Even if Kano accepted being chunky and ‘unlovable’. Liked it, even.</p><p>Liked herself, even.</p><p>Because she definitely missed being able to pass through the world unseen.</p><p>And she missed her old life.</p><p>❀</p><p>“Hey, do you guys know anyone who draws manga?”</p><p>Tanaka tried all week to find the artist behind the amazing comic he’d found in the mystery flash drive, but the chapters were tagged with a username, not a pen name, so he’d been running in circles, spinning his wheels in vain. He didn’t even know where to start looking, really.</p><p>He couldn’t just call up Shonen Jump and ask them if they knew who <em>SidewalkWildflower</em> was in real life…</p><p>
  <em>Wait. Maybe a shojo magazine. But who the fuck reads shojo?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Still, WONDER didn’t seem like a shonen manga…</em>
</p><p>Tanaka hated that he cared so much. But he had to return the flash drive, somehow. And when his brain ran out of shitty, useless ideas… he consulted his exclusive panel of confidants.</p><p>Never once looking away from their warm-up, Hinata answered, “Did you try the art club? Or maybe the comics club?” In preparation for the scrimmage, Hinata partnered up with Kageyama, competing with all of the other boys to see which pair could keep their ball up in the air for the longest with bumps, sets, digs, and the occasional spike. “Student council might even be able to print up a flyer for you or put something in the school newspaper about it?”</p><p>Distracted from his own partner and their warm-up, Tanaka groaned, face palming. “Man, why didn’t I think of that?”</p><p>“Because you’re an idiot,” Nishinoya said with a smirk just before spiking the ball into Tanaka’s face when he wasn’t looking, hand still covering his eyes.</p><p>Brain thoroughly scrambled, Tanaka fell to the gym floor, clutching his throbbing nose in his hands. “Noya, you son of a buttweasel-”</p><p>“Shoulda been paying attention,” Nishinoya chided, helping his best friend up from the floor. “Also, if you would’ve been here on time, you coulda met this new girl from the girls’ team… she was <em>so</em> <em>hot</em>, and she even called me ‘dick cheese’ which was both arousing and confusing.”</p><p><em>Just his luck. </em>“Aw man, I missed out on a new hot girl?” Tanaka moaned, rubbing his nose where it still throbbed. “<em>And</em> I get a ball to the face? This is just not my day…” Blood dripped from his face and onto his t-shirt. “Dammit. Saeko’s going to kill me.”</p><p>The two of them walked off to grab a drink of water, and Nishinoya shot Tanaka an empathetic grimace. “I mean, at least Hinata gave you some place to start with your little comic mystery, right? Know anyone in the art club?”</p><p>Nose now freely bleeding, Tanaka closed his eyes and felt the warmth trickle down his throat as he held his dirty t-shirt to his nose to staunch the bleed. He searched back in his mind, looking for anything art-club-related… and smiled.</p><p>“You know what, Noya? I actually do…”</p><p>❀</p><p>Kano walked back into Gym 2 half an hour later with the girls volleyball club at her side. And for the briefest second, they seemed like a real team. She imagined badass theme music, slo-mo camera work, hair flips, probably a nice filter...</p><p>Until she heard <em>him.</em></p><p>Before Kano heard his obnoxiously loud voice or saw his juvenile delinquent aesthetic, she should have remembered…</p><p>The boys’ volleyball club had two wing spikers…</p><p>And one was none other than the loud-mouthed bad boy, Ryunosuke Tanaka.</p><p>“Abe! Kano Abe!” he shouted from across the gym, waving and jogging over. “Hey! Wait up!”</p><p>Motoyo slowed ahead of Kano to walk at her side. “You know Tanaka?” she muttered under her breath, curiously eyeing him as he approached. Her lips almost hadn’t even moved when she spoke. Kano had to give Motoyo props… the girl must’ve had wicked gossip skills.</p><p>“Sure,” Kano shrugged, “I’ve tutored him for the last two years.”</p><p>Leaving Kano only with a slow, approving nod, Motoyo skipped off to go help supervise the younger girls as they set up their equipment across the gym from the boys.</p><p>Crossing her arms, Kano stopped completely, waiting for Tanaka to meet her. “What’s up, Tanaka?” she sighed, “Need tutoring already? I should’ve known you’ve been snoozing in class now that I’m not there to supervise you.” After two years, they had finally been separated into different homeroom classes, so Kano didn’t have to babysit him or deal with Tanaka’s constant flirtatious remarks and almost-daily tutoring needs.</p><p>Her sky blue eyes caught him off guard, just like they always did. Everything he’d meant to ask her flew away from his brain, gone south for the winter, out of office, memory wiped. “No, no! It’s nothing like that!” He smirked, rubbing at his freshly trimmed buzz cut and subconsciously flexing, “I just... I didn’t know you played volleyball, Abe.”</p><p><em>Be cool, man,</em> he chided himself, <em>it’s just Abe. The same Abe you’ve goofed around with for years.</em></p><p>Sighing, Kano eyed Tanaka, wondering if she should give him a lie… and ultimately decided to trust the chatterbox boy. They were relatively close, after all. Closer than her and Reika, anyway. “I don’t. At least not professionally or whatever this is,” Kano admitted with a roll of her eyes. “My mother forced me into the club, signed me up without my knowledge. So now I’m here.”</p><p>He snorted first before bursting into raucous laughter, his hands on his knees for balance as he laughed about her misfortune right in Kano’s face. “Oh, that’s so awesome!” Tanaka sputtered between giggles, “Holy crap, your mom got you good!”</p><p><em>Oh my god, I’m an idiot,</em> Kano screamed in her brain, <em>Why did I think trusting him was a good idea?!</em> “Um, thanks, asshole,” she said, kicking him lightly in the shin. Warring emotions churned in her chest: the acid of frustration, the heat of embarrassment, the fizz of anxiety, and even a droplet of pure annoyance, bitter and oily and viscous.</p><p>Realizing something was up, Tanaka straightened and shook his head. “I’m not laughing at you,” he managed, shoulders still trembling through his aftershock chuckles, “I just… I should have known that the only way you’d play a team sport would be if someone forced you. You’re such a lone wolf type, Abe.”</p><p>Her stomach dropped. Every sensation turned to a stone wall of defensiveness and cool, aloof, purposeful distance; for some reason, his words only made her want to close off, to shut down, harder. <em>One one-way ticket to the sun for Ryunosuke Tanaka, courtesy of my foot in his ass, coming right up.</em></p><p>“You’re a douche, you know that, right?” Kano hissed with a facetious smile on her face. “If you’re wanting a tutor this year, don’t come crawling to me, Tanaka.” She turned on her heel to go join the girls, feeling the residual simmer of rage in every single cell of her body. “Go to hell and take your shitty grades with you.”</p><p><em>Fuck fuck fuck.</em> “Wait, Abe! I didn’t- I have a question-” He reached out and gripped her shoulder, slowing Kano before she could walk away. Panic and regret gripped his brain in unison, reminding him that she was one of the few people who tolerated him, who joked with him, who spoke to him like a human. Kano Abe was his friend. “Let me backtrack. I didn’t mean to be a dick. Sorry.”</p><p>Gritting her teeth, Kano’s shoes squeaked on the waxed floor as she turned to glare ice-blue daggers at Tanaka over her shoulder. “<em>What,</em> Tanaka?”</p><p>He seemed to steel himself, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides after his hand fell from her shoulder. But in reality, he’d forgotten what he was about to say again. <em>Damn those eyes.</em></p><p>Instead of asking about Art Club, he blurted, “W-why do you look so different? Like, your glasses are gone? Your hair looks different, too? What happened? It’s... weird.”</p><p>Kano bristled. <b><em>Weird? </em></b><em>Did the weirdest boy I know just call </em><b><em>me </em></b><em>weird?</em></p><p>“Fuck, <em>wait,</em> that’s not what I wanted to say at all,” he groaned, rubbing his face exasperatedly with his hands, “I meant- I was supposed to ask-”</p><p>“Goodbye, Ryunosuke,” Kano muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. “For real. Don’t bother me again unless it’s with an apology.”</p><p>His eyes widened at her words. Tanaka watched as his tutor and friend of the last two years breezed past him. And the realization that he’d fucked up sunk in his stomach like a lead weight.</p><p>
  <em>Now what?</em>
</p><p>❀</p><p>“Dude, what was that?”</p><p>Nishinoya dragged a stunned Tanaka back over to the boys’ side of the gym after the little altercation that everyone witnessed between Tanaka and the new girl. “You know the hot new girl? What happened?”</p><p>A curious crowd of boys gathered around Nishinoya and Tanaka, all waiting for his response. They all knew the two of them weren’t afraid of flirting with anyone, but for Tanaka to just <em>go for it</em> with the hot new girl and come back with <em>that</em> look on his face…</p><p>It scared them a little. <em>She</em> scared them a little.</p><p>Squeezing his eyes shut, Tanaka groaned, dragging the sound into a growl as he worked frustrated fingers at his buzz cut hair. “She’s not new, dude! That’s my tutor, Kano! You know, Kano Abe, from- And I... Me and my stupid lack of a filter, man!”</p><p>At the mention of the tutor, Nishinoya went silent, his brain piecing together information at lightning speeds. <em>If that girl was Tanaka’s tutor, then she… she was the girl, the same Abe that Ryu had been crushing on since first year.</em> Even if Tanaka didn’t accept it or admit out loud that he had feelings for Kano Abe, Nishinoya saw the way his best friend looked at the tutor. Tanaka talked about her constantly, even more than volleyball. And, upon that realization, Nishinoya felt a stone of guilt choke him off; he’d broken the cardinal rule of brotherhood - he’d flirted with his best bro’s crush.</p><p>Now he had to make it up to Tanaka somehow.</p><p>“What did you say to her, dumbass?” Tsukishima asked, remembering the mysterious girl from that morning with Nishinoya.</p><p>“I don’t really remember, but it wasn’t good,” Tanaka grumbled, angry with himself for losing his favorite tutor and his friend with his unfiltered mouth. “And I didn’t even ask her about the comic thing!”</p><p>Kageyama stepped forward and said, “It doesn’t really matter... That’s the same girl I was talking about.”</p><p>“The who?” Hinata said from across the gossip circle, bouncing in place to stay warmed up and awake. “What girl?”</p><p>“You know,” Kageyama said, flicking his eyes across the gym to eye the one Tanaka had called Kano Abe. “The olympian-trained player on the girls’ team. They’re already calling her the ‘Dark Horse’.”</p><p>Silence fell at Kageyama’s words, the whole team craning their necks to spy on the girls’ team and on The Dark Horse of Karasuno.</p><p>Tanaka’s heart did weird, unfamiliar things in his chest at Kageyama’s words; he couldn’t help but look for her in the crowd, searching for those piercing blue eyes under that new fringe of bangs, wondering what other secrets and mysteries Kano Abe kept hidden away in her mind.</p><p>When she felt the icy chill of all of their eyes on her, Kano looked over and smiled sweetly at the boys’ team, her long ponytail swinging over her shoulder and her bright eyes flashing dangerously... Just before dragging her thumb across her throat in a clear declaration of war.</p><p>The boys swallowed, collectively shivering in fear.</p><p>Tanaka put a target on their backs…</p><p>And the team was about to pay the price. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>P.S. I just want to reiterate that I am brand new to the Haikyuu fandom (I literally started watching the show last week; I'm on season two already, though!) so if there are any glaring inconsistencies, please let me know in the comments.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Ch.4 - The First Set</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, Kano met Tsukishima and Nishinoya on accident while trying to find the girls' volleyball club before the scrimmage. </p>
<p>During warm-ups, Tanaka crowd-sourced ideas for how to find the owner of the flash drive - which had a lengthy comic on it - and Hinata came up with the idea of asking someone in the Art Club. Luckily, Tanaka knew just who to ask...</p>
<p>And at long last, Tanaka and Kano ran into each other for the first time during the new school year. He wanted to ask her about the flash drive, but kept getting distracted during their conversation, and ended up insulting Kano inadvertently. She walked away upset, and the boys dragged Tanaka back to their end of the gym, where Kageyama revealed that Kano Abe was none other than the Dark Horse that he'd told them about.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p>
<p>Tanaka and Kano met on the first day of school at Karasuno.</p>
<p>Back then, Reika and Kano were joined at the hip. They went everywhere together, and finished each other's sentences even. After ten years, their friendship was as easy as breathing.</p>
<p>Since they were sorted alphabetically, Tanaka's shoe locker sat near Reika's; Kano already changed into her school shoes, a pair of brand new black Converses that she was weirdly proud of. "I can't believe we're in high school," Reika whispered, changing out of her street shoes one at a time while Kano held her backpack, fiddling with the Lady Cassiopeia pin on the strap. "It still feels surreal, you know?"</p>
<p>Nodding, Kano kept her head down through the hustle and bustle of the first morning jitters. Strangers flowed around them from schools all over the prefecture, greeting their friends and making new ones already. All of it terrified them. "Surreal is the right word for it," Kano mumbled, her braces too tight to open her mouth much wider.</p>
<p>But when Reika began to say something else, she was cut off by an obnoxious voice looming above them.</p>
<p>"Hello ladies! Sorry to interrupt, but I just have one question for this one right here with the curvaceous goddess body," said the suspicious blond boy leaned up against the lockers beside Reika, pointing straight at Kano.</p>
<p>Leaning around Reika to stare at him, Kano raised an eyebrow. He had to be joking or teasing her. '<em>Goddess body'? Get real, buddy. No one is falling for that shit.</em></p>
<p>He barreled ahead without hesitation. "Marry me, sweet cheeks?"</p>
<p>Reika's mouth fell open audibly, a pop that sounded like bubble wrap.</p>
<p>"In your dreams, weirdo," Kano shot back through a mouth full of metal, "You couldn't handle all of this." She grabbed Reika's wrist and tore out of there before she could lose her nerve, her cheeks on fire as they raced down the hall in a storm of giggles.</p>
<p>"I can't believe you said that!" She exclaimed, breathless and wild-eyed. Reika held up her hands as they slowed, showcasing the tremble in her fingers from the excitement of it all.</p>
<p>Kano mirrored her, revealing her own shaky hands. "Me either. But it had to be a joke or a trap, right?"</p>
<p>"Right," Reika agreed quickly.</p>
<p>Her single word turned Kano's stomach, and the morning's warm excitement slipped away like a blanket from her shoulders. Everything seemed real again, cold again, and the boy from middle school's voice rang in Kano's ears.</p>
<p>
  <em>No one will ever love you... you're too fat.</em>
</p>
<p>"We should... we should probably find our homeroom," Kano muttered, chastised by her own memories.</p>
<p>Reika beamed at her best friend, not realizing anything was wrong. "Yeah! Let's go!" She skipped off toward the first years' hall, and Kano followed in her wake with eyes fixed on the floor, afraid of incurring any more wrath on their first day.</p>
<p>But lo and behold, Kano's almost-fiancé perched on a desk near the back of the same homeroom as both of them.</p>
<p>Pointing at each other with matching expressions of shock, he and Kano shouted in unison, "IT'S YOU!"</p>
<p>Terror jolted through her, gripping her frantic heart in an iron-cold case and sending it straight to the bottom of the ocean. She somehow found a bully before class even started, doomed herself to a high school career of trash cans and harassment and it wasn't even first period yet.</p>
<p>
  <em>That had to be a world record.</em>
</p>
<p>Reika shoved Kano toward the opposite side of the class with two hands on her back, forcing them forward through Kano's paralyzing fear. "You are <em>so</em> fucked," Reika hissed, pushing her best friend down into a desk and settling into the one in front of it with a sigh. After shrugging out of her jacket, Reika turned around to whisper at Kano, her hand covering her mouth so the loud-mouthed kid couldn't read her lips.</p>
<p>"Be careful around that punk. He's bad news."</p>
<p>
  <em>...if only we knew, Past Reika.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>If only we knew.</em>
</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>Infuriated, Kano used every ounce of her willpower to ignore Tanaka.</p>
<p>The girls' team stood across the service line, watched as the boys did the same, and thanked each other for the practice game. Kano couldn't have even picked Tanaka's bad boy mug out of their lineup... her fury wiped her memory like a virus through an old hard drive.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ryunosuke who?</em>
</p>
<p>The six of the first string - Kano, Motoyo, Reika, plus Moe Kikuchi, captain Rinko Sudou, and Nozomi Watabe - raced out to their starting positions. Without their uniforms, the boys had no idea which positions the new girls played, which the girls used to their advantage.</p>
<p>Sudou won the coin toss for first serve, and passed the ball to Motoyo. On the court, the girls turned sideways in preparation for her serve. Kano took a steadying breath, smirking to herself as the girls on the sidelines cheered for Motoyo. "Ooooooh," they hooted, wiggling their fingers toward the girls' side of the court until Motoyo sailed the ball over with a jump serve, following the ball's arc with their squiggling hands, "YEAH!"</p>
<p>The cheering seemed to throw the boys off just a little. Kano didn't know his name, but a dark-haired boy in their back row tried to receive Motoyo's serve and flubbed it out of bounds.</p>
<p>In unison, every one of the girls stomped their feet and threw up one fist in the air. "Boom, <em>ace!</em>"</p>
<p>The lead didn't last for long, though.</p>
<p>"MINE!"</p>
<p>Later, in the back row, Kano received a jump serve from Kageyama, forearms throbbing in response. It'd been a long time since she took a hit like that. The thought excited her, <em>challenged</em> her. Pushed her forward.</p>
<p>"Nice job, Abe!" Moe yelled, never taking her eyes off of the ball as it sailed through the air.</p>
<p>A few minutes into the first set, the girls' team hovered only two points behind the boys at 7-9. Honestly, Kano couldn't help but be a bit proud of the girls. From what she knew and remembered, the boys made it two brackets further at the inter-high tournament the year previous, so the fact that the girls were holding their own even a little was admittedly impressive.</p>
<p>Reika rushed the net, preparing herself for a set from Motoyo. The ball went up, Reika jumped, and Motoyo yelled "Yellow!"</p>
<p>
  <em>That's my cue.</em>
</p>
<p>Motoyo set it up, clear and true toward the opposite end of the net, and Kano flew forward, careful to leap over the mid-court line. Her jump placed her perfectly in front of the ball - far, far away from the boys who wrongly thought Reika would be spiking it at the other end of the net - so Kano slam-dunked it straight down onto the boys' side, snug against the net.</p>
<p>The ref said it was in. Point for the girls.</p>
<p>There was no time for Kano to bask in her special move before she was tackled. "YEEEAAAH!" Motoyo cheered, rushing Kano with a bear hug that lifted her off her feet. The vice-captain spun Kano in a circle, giggling and grinning wildly. "Kano, that was <em>amazing! </em>We did it, just like you taught us!"</p>
<p>Cheeks burning knowing everyone was staring, Kano wiggled in Motoyo's grasp. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she grunted, slapping at Motoyo's space buns, "Put me down, shrimp."</p>
<p>Motoyo dropped Kano with a wink, and everyone began to return to their positions. Except Tanaka grabbed Kano's wrist from under the net. "You," he said softly, avoiding her piercing gaze, "That was... wow." Time seemed to stop for Tanaka while he waited for her answer.</p>
<p>Kano's hand remained limp in his grip. She glanced up at him from the floor and muttered, "Thanks. I guess."</p>
<p>She acted as if he were just another face in the crowd, any other boy on the team, some stranger in the sea of faces on the opposite side of the net. Because of his unfiltered mouth, he'd been erased from her mind like an old save file in a video game.</p>
<p>And nothing hurt more.</p>
<p>Tanaka showed off every special move in his arsenal - every bump, set, spike, dig, and serve - only for Kano to remain unimpressed, unmoved, and unflustered. He continued to compliment her best plays - AKA all of them - and Kano merely dragged her icy, indifferent gaze over him like she just noticed he was there.</p>
<p>But to Tanaka, deep down, it was more like...</p>
<p>He was finally showing up.</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>A bit later, the score sat at 14-9.</p>
<p>The boys looked visibly shaken, their mouths hanging open in awe.</p>
<p>Nozomi Watabe, the girls' libero, just scored a phenomenal service ace straight past the boys' offense and defense.</p>
<p>Through the dissipating cheers from the girls on the sideline, Kano turned to face Nozomi as the ball bounced back from the boys' manager. "Do that same awesomeness again, Nozomi. You've got this," she muttered with another confident nod.</p>
<p>"Yeah. Okay," Nozomi said, smiling softly.</p>
<p>What followed was FIVE MORE SERVE ACES.</p>
<p><em>The girl is a serving robot,</em> and Kano told anyone within earshot as much for the rest of the day.</p>
<p>The girls only lost their groove when the pervy penguin finally received one of Nozomi's magical serves and their dumb setter propped it up and... you know what, you know what happened. They did some fancy move and they got the point.</p>
<p>But what really mattered was that the girls were <em>firmly</em> <em>in the lead.</em></p>
<p>
  <em>19-9, babyyy.</em>
</p>
<p>The boys' team seemed a little rattled after the girls' rash of service aces and called for a time out.</p>
<p>Everyone huddled up on the sidelines, panting and gasping as the girls on the bench told the on-court girls what they'd observed. "The cheers seem to help," said one of the first years. "They really drive the point home when we get it."</p>
<p>"Mind games," the girls repeated in unison.</p>
<p>Chugging water and wiping her sweaty forehead with the sleeve of her t-shirt, Kano smirked. "Right as rain, babes," she said. <em>They actually listened when I talked. Imagine that.</em></p>
<p>Their captain, Rinko Sudou, gestured for everyone to sit and scoot in close. "I'm proud of how we're doing so far, ladies. Better than I expected, to be totally honest," she admitted. "Let's finish out the set strong and go eat some lunch, okay? We'll mix up the team in the second set so everyone gets a shot at the court, deal?"</p>
<p>"Yeah!"</p>
<p>Shuffling back to their positions, the girls stretched while they waited for the boys. Kano hopped in place and shook out her sore fingers, trying to visualize winning the first set, imagining how amazing it would feel to gloat straight in Tanaka's face when the girls won.</p>
<p>Because as it stood, he was the first name on her shit list.</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>During the first timeout of the game, Tsukishima snuck up behind a super-distracted Tanaka and muttered, "You've got it bad."</p>
<p>"Huh? What?" Tanaka grunted, whipping around to stare at the taller underclassman. "What are you mumbling about now, Tsukki? Speak up, beanstalk."</p>
<p>"<em>You</em>, idiot," Tsukishima sighed. He pushed up his glasses higher on his nose and crossed his arms. "Do you really not see it?"</p>
<p>Tanaka frowned as he got up in Tsukishima's personal space, furrowing his brow and trying to piece together the mysterious bullshit that his classmate was spouting. "Mind clueing me in, buddy? What the fuck're you talking about? Ya calling me stupid? Huh?"</p>
<p>"Kinda, yeah," Tsukishima scoffed, "You're obviously more dense than I thought if you can't see that you've got feelings for the Dark Horse."</p>
<p>Captain Ennoshita face-palmed. By now, the whole team was quietly listening in on Tanaka and Tsukishima's spat, and Nishinoya's eyes blew wide at the last bit. The feelings brewing between Kano and Ryunosuke for the last few years seemed obvious to most people if they saw the two interacting, but Yu wasn't sure that Tanaka was mentally prepared to comprehend his feelings...</p>
<p>
  <em>ESPECIALLY NOT NOW, IN THE MIDDLE OF A SCRIMMAGE, TSUKISHIMA! WHAT THE ACTUAL FU-</em>
</p>
<p>"Are you telling me what to do, Tsukki?" Tanaka seethed through gritted teeth, now chest to chest with his teammate. "You telling me how to <em>feel</em>, now? Noya, tell this guy he's bonkers. Kano's just my friend." He jabbed his finger straight at Tsukishima's face, not bothering to be covert about his irritation.</p>
<p>Tsukishima took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.</p>
<p>The rest of the team didn't know where to look. Nishinoya? Tsukishima? Tanaka? Was this really the time to be forcing Tanaka to embrace his feelings? In the middle of a scrimmage with the girls?</p>
<p>"No, man." Nishinoya stood his ground, with his fists clenched at his sides and his eyes focused on the waxed hardwood floor. He hated this. He hated that Tsukishima forced their hands, that the second year was so damn observant... but maybe it was time. "You and Kano... it's obvious, Ryu."</p>
<p>Tanaka stepped away from Tsukishima, his bravado faltering as he processed his best friend's words. <em>Obvious?</em> He glanced over at the girls' timeout huddle, where Kano hung back, a small smile on her face and her water bottle tucked under her arm, listening as her captain gave them words of encouragement.</p>
<p>Butterflies filled Ryunosuke Tanaka from head to toe at the sight of her. The rest of the gym, the rest of the players... it all fell away when she glanced over at him as the girls broke apart to head back to the court. She didn't change her expression or do anything extravagant... but with her sharp, calculating eyes on him, Tanaka <em>knew</em>.</p>
<p>He knew "obvious" didn't even begin to cover it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I finished season two of Haikyuu!!! :D Now I'm all caught up according to Hulu! I know that there's a season three, but it's not on Hulu... I'll have to check Netflix, I guess. ovo </p>
<p>Again, sorry if not everything is canon; I don't have a way to read the manga without pirating it, and I'm using wikis to catch up on stuff. But I'm doing my best! c:</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Ch.5 - The Second Set</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, we found out how Tanaka and Kano met - the first day of school, before class even started, he asked her to marry him. Unsure if he was teasing her or not, Kano blew him off... only to find out that Tanaka was in her homeroom class. </p>
<p>The first set of the girls vs boys scrimmage started off in the girls' favor, with Kano showing off some moves. But when Tanaka tried to do the same, she seemed unimpressed and unshaken, even though that's how he felt about seeing her on the court... </p>
<p>To shake the girls' confidence, the boys called for a time out, during which Tsukishima confronted Tanaka about Kano while the rest of the team eavesdropped. When Tanaka called on Nishinoya for backup, though, Noya supported Tsukki's assessment. Tanaka's feelings for Kano were obvious to all parties involved... except the two in the middle of it, it seemed.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The boys narrowly won the first set: 23 - 25. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So Kano hid during lunch to regroup. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With her bento box salad in its sunflower-patterned furoshiki cloth, she jogged off to find a quiet, secluded spot to eat in peace. Around the back of the club rooms, Kano sunk to the dirt and shimmied her knee pads down to her ankles before unwrapping her meal and digging in. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her aunt’s voice rang in her head, clear as day. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Baby Bundt! What are you missing? What will solve the puzzle?” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But the longer that Kano ruminated over the game - running and rerunning plays in her head like she played every position, like it was her own fault for every problem - the more upset she got. So she gave up. The game was over, and there was nothing she could do about that one… so she just had to focus on the next set. She had to be better, be the </span>
  <em>
    <span>best</span>
  </em>
  <span>, for her team. And she could only win… no. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>They</span>
  </em>
  <span> could only win if she chilled out a little. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of stamping feet interrupted her meal planning for the week (she’d been thinking curry rice some night, beef stew in the crockpot on Tuesday… probably tempura veggies for Meatless Monday). A sweaty and wide-eyed Tanaka rounded the side of the building, chest heaving. His whole face lit up at the sight of Kano. “There you are!” He beamed, sauntering over to crouch beside her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart beat a panicked rhythm as Nishinoya’s words simmered in his brain, over and over and over. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“You and Kano… it’s obvious, Ryu.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kano, look-“ Tanaka started, hesitated, and tried again, “Listen, I-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A sigh escaped through her clenched teeth. “Well, which is it?” She muttered, eyeing him cautiously as she placed the lid on her salad and set it beside her. “Look? Or listen?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He chuckled and ran both hands over his buzz cut, hiding his flushed face in his fingers. “Listen. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> listen,” Tanaka sighed, “I-I’m really sorry about earlier. I don’t have a filter, and it gets me in trouble a lot.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...I know.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Stiffening, he dragged his gaze from the dirt, up and up until he met her chilling stare. “Y-you do?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She shrugged. “We’ve been in the same class for two years, buttmunch. I’ve tutored you for that long, too. I know how you are.” With an idle hand, Kano doodled flowers in the dirt beside her sneakers. “I guess after a month away from you and your nonsense, I forgot how razor-sharp your tongue can be. So… apology accepted. Or whatever.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My tongue can do other things too, goddess, just you-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano karate-chopped him on the head. “Stop.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Got it. Hearing you loud and clear.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The second set played totally different from the first. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With Tanaka and Kano back on good terms, the two teams spit trash talk like breathing. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And of course… Tanaka started it. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Send it right here, princess,” he jeered at Kano, wiggling his butt in anticipation as he waited for her jump serve with his arms outstretched, “I can take it.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano snorted, then sent her serve to the opposite side of the court, where Hinata was caught totally off guard. “Eat my ass, Tanaka, you fuckface!” She yelled across the court, just after the boys’ coach called the girls’ point. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Babe, you know I love it when you talk dirty like that,” Tanaka grinned forcibly, “But stop showing off! You gotta let me get some points too! Let me look cool in front of the guys!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dribbling the ball a bit to focus, Kano shook her head and made eye contact with Tanaka clear across the gym. “No... I don’t think I will,” she said, smirking. She switched up her strategy to an overhand serve, sending it just barely over the net, where no one was watching. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Growling, Tanaka stood from his failed dig, helped Nishinoya up too, and grabbed at the net. “You know I hate when you use shitty movie quotes, hot stuff!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead of answering, Kano bounced the retrieved ball a few times, spinning it in her hands, and shot him an innocent smile that could melt the polar ice caps. On top of it, she threw him a wink that stopped his heart… right before serving the ball right into his testicles. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hit the floor like a sack of potatoes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the boys hissed in sympathy, wincing visibly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh fuck! Tanaka!” Kano screeched, her hands flying over her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I was showboating too hard and-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tanaka held up a hand to stop Kano’s rambling before slapping it to the wooden floor. “Serve it!” He hissed, raising a shaky thumbs-up, “I’ll… I’ll be ready, babe!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Heart pounding with guilt, Kano bit her lip and waited until he moved a little faster before prepping for her serve. She had to admit that it felt good to banter with him again. And she hated being mad at him. And if she had to admit anything else while she lined up her serve… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ryunosuke Tanaka might legitimately be her only friend at Karasuno. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And... she could do much worse. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The second set was the girls’ win: 25 - 22.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>So the game was pushed into a third, tiebreaker set… the finale. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>During the fifteen minute water break between sets, Kano called home. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yasuo answered right away. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Abe residence, coolest son speaking,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> he said smoothly,</span>
  <em>
    <span> “May I ask who’s calling?”</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s me, buttmunch,” Kano sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she paced out back of the gym and tried to keep cool. Sun screamed down, undeterred my clouds or inclement weather of any kind, turning Kano’s asphalt dark hair to molten lava under its piercing rays. “How’s mom doing? She need anything? I can stop on my way home-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“She’s fine, you dingus,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Yasuo chided, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Now go away. You’re distracting me from expertly commentating on Yoshi and Yukio’s Super Smash Bros tournament.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rolling her eyes, Kano said the only thing that came to mind: “Who’s winning?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s tied. Yosh thought - for some idiotic reason - that he’d switch it up and play as Pit for a while, during which Yukes totally obliterated him,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Yasuo explained tiredly. Kano heard the fridge open and close in the background. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Now they’re arguing over who gets to be Kirby and who gets to be Samus while I grab refreshments.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, no one’s maining Peach?” Kano teased, “I’m disappointed.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Yasuo laughed. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You’re the only person I know who can win with Peach, you nerd. That doesn’t mean she’s any good.” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Excuse me, I think you want to take that back about my sweet baby angel,” Kano gaped, leaning against the side of the gym as she shook her head, “Peach is amazing and flawless and-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Talking about yourself again, goddess?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano popped her head up at the new voice, finding Tanaka smirking at her from a few feet away. “Um, Yasuo, I gotta go. Text or call if you need anything.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>“Wait wait wait! Was that your boyfri-“ </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She hung up before he could finish his question, but she could feel the impending interrogation awaiting her at home and the gossip already buzzing around the Abe household. “Tanaka, I hope for the sake of your team and this next match that there was a good reason for you to interrupt my phone call,” Kano said, raising a brow at him and crossing her arms. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well sure,” Tanaka pouted and shrugged, his hands down the front of his pants due to his lack of pockets, “I just wanted to interrupt your conversation with your boyfriend.” He tried way too hard to look innocent and inconspicuous. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano’s face fell, staring at her friend with the most unimpressed expression that she could muster up. It was obvious that Tanaka missed the beginning of the conversation, otherwise he would have </span>
  <em>
    <span>clearly</span>
  </em>
  <span> heard her ask about her mother. So she pushed his buttons for being the world’s worst eavesdropper. “So what if it was my boyfriend? You jealous?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He clicked his tongue and stared at the dirt, scuffing his sneaker through the sand. What was the appropriate response in this situation? Agree? Disagree? Change the topic entirely? Drop dead? “N-no... Not jealous. I mean, who’d date </span>
  <em>
    <span>you,</span>
  </em>
  <span> you weirdo?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Fuck.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tanaka wanted to take the words back as soon as they left his mouth. But after the morning they’d already experienced, he didn’t know what to say to make it better… and settled on silence in hopes that it would fix things better than words could. </span>
</p>
<p><span>Opposite him and completely thrown off kilter, Kano squinted at Tanaka through the sunshine. </span><em><span>Was he being honest?</span></em> <em><span>Because those words from his mouth sounded strangely like the boy’s from math class in middle school.</span></em></p>
<p>
  <span>Except, the Ryunosuke Tanaka she knew flirted </span>
  <em>
    <span>constantly,</span>
  </em>
  <span> 24/7, year after year… and the </span>
  <em>
    <span>one time</span>
  </em>
  <span> that Kano gives him shit for it… he </span>
  <em>
    <span>denies</span>
  </em>
  <span> it? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> avoided a golden opportunity to flirt with her more? </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And he </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> dissed her or teased her like that, even if he was just joking about the “weirdo” comment. It sounded wrong leaving his mouth, like someone else made him say it, controlling him via remote. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>...Something wasn’t adding up. But Kano didn’t know what yet. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I must have served into your balls harder than I thought,” she finally sighed, punching him in the shoulder as she tilted her head back toward the gym. “You’re being weird. Maybe I cut off the blood flow to your main brain or something.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She began to walk off, ponytail swinging behind her, and Tanaka chuckled as he jogged after her, anxiety dissipating immediately. “You are so right, princess. My brain’s all sortsa fucked up after watching you totally wipe the floor with us for the last set,” he agreed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked toward the front doors of the gym. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Well get used to it,” Kano smirked, bumping his hip with hers and looping her arm over his shoulders to yank on his ear childishly, “Because I’m about to do it again.” Before he could retaliate, she sprinted out from under his grip, giggling as he reached for her and chased her into the gym. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The rest of the teams watched on as Kano and Tanaka horsed around, karate chopping each other and racing out of each other’s grasp in a storm of laughter. Nishinoya and Reika met eyes across the gym, and when Nishinoya went over to get the scoop on why Reika and Kano were being weird, all did was slip Noya a rather large sum of money and murmur to him before wandering off to warm up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They’ll be dating before summer.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Noya watched Reika walk off before turning his gaze on the money in his palm. “You severely underestimate Ryu’s ability to ignore his feelings, Sato. He’s been doing it for two years already. Who’s to say he couldn’t do it for a few more months?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>During the first timeout of the third set, the girls decided to switch things up. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Captain Sudou swapped Kano out so she could act as coach for the team and suggested swapping out the older girls for some of the younger ones so they could practice against the boys. Without hesitation, Kano agreed. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A fresh-faced first year took Kano’s spot on the court, beaming at the boys with a mouthful of braces and confidence. But Tanaka noticed Kano’s absence immediately. “Hey, hot lips! What’s going on? We didn’t discuss this!” he shouted, ducking his head under the net to stare daggers at her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Last I checked, I don’t have to run any of my diabolical plans past you, Tanaka,” Kano replied without even glancing his way, watching as a different first year got ready to serve. “Focus on your own problems, friend.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You </span>
  <em>
    <span>are</span>
  </em>
  <span> my problem, Kano!” he yelled back, “And did you just </span>
  <em>
    <span>admit</span>
  </em>
  <span> that we’re friends? Guys, look! I’m moving up-” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The ball beaned him in the face. Sighing as she face-palmed, Kano paced the length of the wall where the girls sat, trying not to race over and check on him or give him any more excuses to flirt with her. “One of those days, huh?” she muttered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You have no idea,” the boys’ coach answered bluntly, arms propped on his hips as he stood at the side of the net, shaking his head. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano hadn’t realized she spoke loudly enough to be heard. “Oh, uh, sorry. I was talking to myself. I’m Kano Abe, by the way,” she said, bowing slightly to the coach. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t bow, that’s weird,” the blond laughed, waving her off. They watched as the boys regained control of the ball and Kageyama served it beautifully over the net. “I know who you are. All the kids are calling you The Dark Horse already,” he said, never taking his eyes off of the ball, “Heard you were trained by an Olympic athlete. True?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A scoff fell from Kano’s lips before she could stop it. “I mean, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I guess?</span>
  </em>
  <span> My aunt went to the Olympics twice for sand volleyball, and </span>
  <em>
    <span>she is</span>
  </em>
  <span> the one who taught me how to play, but I wouldn’t say she trained me. That’s a bit of a stretch,” she explained. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mmm,” the boys’ coach hummed, nodding as he listened to her explanation, noting a point for the girls with a wave of his hand. “Stretch or not, you’re good, kid. You guys beat us, and that’s commendable. Hope you know that.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The coach walked away, leaving Kano chewing the inside of her cheek and thinking over what he’d said. She still never got his name, but he had a point. Coachless and adrift, the girls volleyball club managed to beat the boys team, who had a way better track record than them… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Something caught flame in Kano’s chest, electric and persistent. Maybe with her on the team, the girls had a chance to win against real teams. Maybe with her help, she could make the girls volleyball team something special. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe… just maybe… she could have fun on the court again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And maybe senior year wouldn’t be so bad. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>If you're bored, my friend helped me create a Discord server! Come join us to talk about anime, stories, writing, and whatever else you think of! </p>
<p>https://discord.gg/P5aAngK69z</p>
<p>Fair warning, I'm a total noob at discord, but I'm learning! c:</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Ch.6 - The Switch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, the girls vs. boys scrimmage continued, with the boys taking the first set and the girls taking the second. </p><p>During lunch between the first two sets, Tanaka found Kano and apologized for his lack of a filter, and Kano accepted his apology. </p><p>Kano and Tanaka easily fell back into their usual jokey rhythm--shouting smack talk across the gym, teasing each other, horsing around--and Nishinoya and Reika made a bet that Tanaka and Kano would be dating by summer break. </p><p>A little pep talk from the boys' coach lit a flame in Kano's chest, pushing her to make the girls' team better and actually try...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Also hi, updates are going to be on Saturdays now! I got a new job and Tuesdays won't work anymore lol </p><p>Sorry for the late update! <br/>Also it's my birthday hi i'm old :c</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p><p>That Tuesday after the scrimmage, where the boys won two of three sets…</p><p>Tanaka surprised Kano.</p><p>Not with flowers, or her favorite chocolates, or anything one might expect of a teenage boy who just realized and embraced his feelings for his girl best friend…</p><p>But he surprised her by transferring into her college prep class.</p><p>He spent all of Sunday talking with his sister, Saeko, about the longevity of his volleyball career and <em>actually</em> thinking about his future for the first time ever, rationalizing that transferring into the college prep class would only help him if he wanted to do anything other than volleyball with his life after high school.</p><p>The mind-blowing news of his feelings for Kano turned his entire world on its head, skewing his narrowly focused vision of the future--of just focusing on finishing out the end of the year and trying to be the best teammate for the volleyball club--and changing all of his plans. After two years with her on top of the revelation of his feelings, he couldn’t envision any new plans without her.</p><p>
  <em>Now he just had to see if she felt the same.</em>
</p><p>After hearing her brother out, Saeko mentioned the possibility of a sports medicine major or a volleyball scholarship, and agreed to sign the necessary paperwork once he compiled it. She worried about his ability to focus or maintain his sudden uncharacteristic academic motivation, but she believed in him regardless. And she knew Ryunosuke was tenacious when he put his mind to it, so if he said he’d be okay in a college prep class, then she’d support him.</p><p>The rest of the weekend, he’d been thinking about how obviously something happened between Kano and Reika, because they hardly spoke on the court or otherwise; in their years previous, he couldn’t get Reika to ever leave Kano’s side, but now they wouldn’t stand beside each other if you paid them. So, in Tanaka’s infinite wisdom, he saw a gap in Kano’s best friend lineup. And he intended to fill that position immediately.</p><p><em>From there,</em> he reasoned, <em>romance couldn’t be far behind.</em></p><p>On Monday, Tanaka spoke to his homeroom teacher and made the transfer official. Between classes, he raced around campus, getting signatures and speaking with various teachers about makeup work, and happily found that most teachers were just surprised and relieved that he was <em>finally</em> taking his studies seriously. Plus, it was only the second week of school, so he hadn’t missed much.</p><p>Tuesday, he sprinted the entire trip to school, the impending look of surprise on Kano Abe’s face buoying him over the winding roads, across the schoolyard, and into his new classroom. She was worth every burning breath and searing muscle.</p><p>Once in his new homeroom, he collapsed into a desk at the far back corner of the class--the one he’d been assigned by the college prep teacher after class the day before--and caught his breath while he waited for the rest of his peers to show up. Leaning his head back against the wall, Tanaka found himself smiling. For two years, Kano Abe pushed him to do better, to try harder, to be better, and now he’d prove to her that he was doing just that. He was going to show her that she made him a better person, that she made him think about the hard stuff, like life after high school and his future and careers, of all things…</p><p>And that he wanted her at his side for all of it.</p><p>Every person that entered the room drew Tanaka’s eye, his heart racing for a brief but infinite second as his brain deciphered his new classmates’ faces to decide if they were the one he was waiting for, only to be disappointed every time. Until, suddenly, there she stood.</p><p>Kano--fresh out of an emotional meeting of the student council where she regretfully resigned her position as Vice President--shuffled into her classroom not feeling any better. She hoped that by lessening her load that she’d feel less stressed, less overwhelmed, and less irritable… but so far, everything felt the same. Her heart weighed immeasurably heavy in her chest, and her contacts burned in her eyes from the tears she’d shed in the student council meeting. <em>Was it too late to feign an illness for the rest of the school day? </em>She robotically took her seat near the window and tossed her bag under her desk, letting her head fall into her hands, her hair falling around her in a midnight-dark curtain to block out the rest of the room.</p><p>“Well that wasn’t the warm welcome I was expecting.”</p><p>His gritty voice simultaneously made Kano smile and exhausted her. He was the last person she was expecting to see in her homeroom class. Without raising her head, Kano answered, “What are you doing here, Tanaka? Exchange program from the zoo?”</p><p>“Come on, Kano. Is that any way to greet your best friend?” He poked the back of her head repeatedly with his pencil, trying to get her to look at him as he subtly slid the ‘best friend’ title into conversation. “Where’s my ‘good morning’ kiss?”</p><p>She swatted absently at his hand, like she wasn’t really trying. “I’m kind of having a shitty morning over here. Just tell me why you’re in my homeroom, torturing me at the asscrack of dawn, Tanaka.”</p><p>“Fine, fine. Would you believe me if I said I transferred in?”</p><p><em>That</em> got her attention.</p><p>Kano lifted her head, spinning in her seat to suspiciously glare at her friend. “I wouldn’t… because you didn’t.”</p><p>“Did too,” he smirked triumphantly, leaning back in his seat with his fingers laced behind his head, “Official as of this morning, goddess. You and I are classmates again.”</p><p>“But <em>why?</em> You hate school. You wouldn’t transfer here just to annoy me to death… you’re smarter than that.”</p><p>Tanaka eyed Kano now that he could see her in her morning glory; her jet black hair hung tousled and loose around her shoulders, sky-blue eyes red-rimmed and shimmering with tears, face devoid of makeup or emotion. She’d mentioned having a shitty morning, and initially Tanaka thought it was one of her tactics to keep him at arm’s length, but now he thought maybe she’d been telling the truth. “I’ve... been thinking,” he said slowly, cautiously, choosing his words more carefully than he usually would.</p><p>“A dangerous practice.”</p><p>“Shut up,” he chuckled. “I’ve been thinking... about life after high school. About what comes next, you know? And…” Tanaka paused, rubbing a hand over his buzz cut habitually. “I’m just covering my bases. Maybe college <em>is</em> in my future. I like school when <em>you</em> teach me, so… maybe college could be better, you know, when I choose what I want to learn.” His brain stopped him before he could say anything embarrassing, like the ‘especially if you were there too’ or any of the other flirty/slightly-romantic remarks lingering behind his lips. He didn’t want to scare her off. Especially when he didn’t know what she was thinking or where her emotions led.</p><p>Kano’s expression softened. She’d never heard Tanaka take anything so seriously before--save for volleyball--and she was, frankly, a little proud of him. She tapped his calf with her sneaker. “That’s… very wise of you, Tanaka.”</p><p>The teacher entered the classroom then--distracting Kano from Tanaka’s wide eyes, blank expression, and flushed cheeks--and the students stood to greet them. Everyone sat once more, and the lesson began. Only a few minutes in, Kano passed a note to Tanaka, written in her careful, precise handwriting. His heart fluttered, still recovering from her compliment, and quietly unfolded the paper.</p><p>
  <em>Let me know if you need my help. You have my number. :)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I believe in you!</em>
</p><p>He stuffed the note into his folder, his leg still on fire from where she’d touched him with her signature red sneaker. His whole body filled with helium and champagne and<em> light</em> at the words in her note, replaying on a giddy loop in his mind. If nothing else, he had an excuse to text her whenever he wanted now… but…</p><p>Maybe… <em>maybe</em> he could hold himself to a higher standard now.</p><p>And maybe it was Kano Abe’s fault for making Ryunosuke Tanaka believe in himself for the first time in a long time.</p><p>And maybe all of this change was for the better.</p><p>❀</p><p>
  <em>“Hey, Baby Bundt! What’s shakin’?”</em>
</p><p>In the middle of making dinner, Kano sighed and took off her glasses, rubbing at the space between her eyebrows with her knuckles. “Auntie, literally no one says <em>‘what’s shakin’</em> anymore,” she said, “and you know I hate that nickname.”</p><p>Auntie Nagisa chuckled via video call, shaking her head as she expertly handled a pan of something sizzling away in the background. <em>“I know you hate it; that’s why I use it at every available opportunity. What kind of cool wine aunt would I be if I didn’t?”</em> Her shoulder-length, black hair was wrangled back with an elastic headband, keeping it all out of her face while she cooked breakfast.</p><p>“A cooler wine aunt,” Kano muttered.</p><p>
  <em>“I heard that, little miss sassy pants.”</em>
</p><p>“I wanted you to.”</p><p>Nagisa laughed, the crows’ feet at the corners of her eyes wrinkling with joy. <em>“Oh god, I missed you. Especially since Hannah and I… Whatever. Enough about me, my drama, and my homesickness… tell me what’s up with you, ya noodle.”</em></p><p>“I dunno… I'm just tired. It’s mostly this volleyball team that mom made me join, auntie. I just…” Kano groaned, flumping onto the kitchen counter, “I don’t know what to do. We don’t have a coach, our captains are useless - one’s an airhead and the other never talks - and we have a tournament coming up and I feel like I’m coaching everyone and doing everything on top of fuckin’ everything else wrong in my life and I just hnnnggggaaaaAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHH-”</p><p><em>“Hey hey hey, Baby Bundt,”</em> Nagisa cooed, waving her hand over the camera to get Kano’s attention, <em>“Let’s backtrack... What else is going on? Huh? What’s got you so worked up? School? College prep? Cram school? Are your brothers driving you crazy?”</em></p><p>Frustrated tears pooled in Kano’s eyes as she hesitated, worrying about telling her aunt about everything even though her mom had explicitly told her not to. “I, uh, it’s nothing,” she said, clearing her throat. The water began to boil on the stovetop, so Kano poured in the pasta and started stirring. “Sorry. Ignore me.”</p><p>
  <em>“Try again, kiddo. I’ve changed your diapers. I know when you’re lying.”</em>
</p><p>Trapped, Kano chewed her lip and decided that her weakened mother’s wrath would be tolerable compared to her aunt’s. “Mom… mom had surgery back in February, and they said it would be a few months of recovery. With dad gone, that leaves me to watch the boys <em>and</em> take care of the house... on top of my school stuff and volleyball and everything.”</p><p>Nagisa raised a brow. <em>“But... It's your senior year? Why didn’t your mom say anything to me? Why didn’t she wait?”</em></p><p>Kano shrugged, stirring her pot of boiling pasta in tense silence.</p><p>The line fell silent for a long moment as both women cooked, both lost in thought. <em>“I’m sorry that all of this fell on you, Baby Bundtling,”</em> Nagisa finally sighed, clicking off the stove element she’d been using. <em>“I’m going to talk to your mom and-“</em></p><p>“Please don’t!” Kano blurted. She grabbed the phone and held it too close, her panic evident in her face even from thousands of miles away. Tears shone in her eyes as she pleaded under her breath to avoid having her mom overhear somehow. “Please… <em>please </em>don’t tell mom that I told you. I just… I can handle it, Auntie. I can. I swear.”</p><p>A beat of tension passed while Nagisa considered her niece’s words, staring her down through the small screen, and she sighed. <em>“Sure kiddo... You got it.”</em></p><p>Turning back to her noodles, Kano expertly scooped a tester from the salty water and left it to cool on the ceramic spoon rest beside the stovetop. “Thank you,” Kano whispered, feeling a bit of tension seep from her shoulders. She popped the cooled noodle in her mouth and nodded to herself. “I’ve got to go, auntie; the noodles have to be drained for dinner. Talk to you next week?”</p><p><em>“Sure, knucklehead,”</em> Nagisa said. Smiling softly, she blew a kiss at the camera and reminded her niece, <em>“I love you. Talk to you next week.”</em></p><p>“I love you too. Bye,” Kano answered, smiling directly into the camera before hanging up.</p><p>Nagisa Hayashi set her phone down on the laminate countertop of her studio apartment just before burying her face in her hands. The smell of the breakfast she burned during her weekly video call with her favorite and only niece coated her mouth with oil and vomit, turning her stomach violently. <em>What are you thinking, Namiko?</em> she wondered, dragging her fingers down her face as she straightened up. <em>Kano can’t handle all of this stress, you idiot… just because you’re the older sister doesn’t mean you’re the wiser sister, Nana.</em></p><p>Crossing her empty apartment with a lukewarm cup of instant coffee in her hands, Nagisa stood at her window and looked out into the foggy, gray spring morning, mind spinning in a million directions. Her calico cat, Lotus, snaked between her ankles, purring softly and chirping for breakfast. “Hey, Lo?” Nagisa muttered, speaking to her cat as if it could answer.</p><p>“Do you think maybe we’ve outgrown California?”</p><p>Lotus meowed loudly in response.</p><p>Nagisa laughed. “I knew you’d agree.” </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Ch.7 - The Deal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, Tanaka switched into the college prep class not just to impress Kano, but also to take himself and his future more seriously. </p>
<p>Kano video-called her Aunt Nagisa while she made dinner and accidentally spilled the beans that her mom had surgery before the new school year began, leaving Kano in charge of the house and her siblings while her mom recovered. Nagisa offered to say something to her sister, but Kano begged her not to, insisting that she could handle the extra stress. </p>
<p>After the two of them hung up, we heard Nagisa talking to her cat, Lotus, about leaving California...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fair warning, there are some dudes being gross/lewd at the end of the chapter. <br/>And some blood lol</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, butthead.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Crouched and leaning against the side of the gym, Tanaka panted in the cool shade, his head hung until he heard the voice of his favorite person. He squinted up through the spring sunshine, sweat trickling down his face, and found Kano Abe before him, appearing like a vision in a stunning white sundress. “‘Butthead’ is a weird way to say ‘future husband’, Kano,” he teased with a smirk, “What’s up? No practice today?” Kano’s cheeks flared instantly, and Tanaka gave himself a mental pat on the back. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to invite you to a party Friday night, but if you’re going to be like that… then I’ll just invite the rest of the team and </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> you. Bye, dorkwad.” She turned on her heel and marched off toward the open gym door, carefully avoiding the question about practice. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But Tanaka was faster. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He jolted to his feet in milliseconds, cutting her off before she could enter the gym full of horny teenage boys… the same ones who would </span>
  <em>
    <span>definitely</span>
  </em>
  <span> tease him about Kano making a scene. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s just backtrack a sec, babe,” Tanaka chuckled with his hands on her shoulders, gently walking her backwards, away from the gym full of sweaty, shirtless dudes who might hit on her, “Tell me about this party! Where is it? Who’s going? You gonna be there? Who’s hosting?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When they were out of panic radius of the gym, Tanaka wiped some of his sweat from his brow with the hem of his t-shirt, visibly distracting Kano with the peek of his abs he flashed her. In a futile attempt to re-anchor herself to reality (and not her strange new dreamscape of Tanaka’s abs), Kano shifted her backpack higher on her shoulder before crossing her arms, keeping her expression neutral the entire time. “Yeah, I’m gonna be there. Nekoma is hosting a back to school celebration. All of you guys and the girls were invited, sooo pass it along? I’ll text you the address later.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She walked off before he could answer. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait! Where are you going looking so beautiful?!” he yelled after her, jogging to keep her in his sights. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano raised her middle finger and answered without looking by yelling over her shoulder, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Her voice seemed wrong, broken, and tired. But Tanaka couldn’t push her about it, because she disappeared beyond the schoolyard and into the city. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Without thinking too hard about how Kano could’ve been invited to a Nekoma party or about her cryptic reply, Tanaka already knew he was attending the party. There was no way in hell that he would let Kano attend a Nekoma party alone. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over his dead body. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over his probably unrequited love. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Over his pining heart. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That night, Tanaka sat huddled over his homework at the table in their dining room, grumbling and groaning about his complicated English homework, when he received a text. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Grateful for the distraction and secretly hoping it was Kano, he dove for his phone, only to be intercepted by his sister. Saeko stood over him in sweats, a mug of steaming tea in one hand and his phone in the other. “You and Kano are texting </span>
  <em>
    <span>regularly</span>
  </em>
  <span> now?” she smirked, raising an eyebrow at her little brother. “What a development, Ryu… are you gonna give her a nickname soon? Or borrow her pencil? Actually, it’s taken you two years to pluck up the courage to get </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so maybe you should take it slower than that. You don’t want to scare the poor girl.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut the fuck up, Saeko! Give me my damn phone back!” Ryunosuke shouted, punching her in the back of the knee to try and make her fall or drop his phone. He knew his ears were hot, which meant the rest of his face was just as flushed, but he needed to know what Kano texted him. “It might be about homework!” he lied, hoping Saeko would believe the fib. </span>
</p>
<p><span>Setting her tea down on the table, Saeko shrugged. “It’s not,” she said bluntly, dancing out of his reach when Ryunosuke reeled back to swing at her again, “She said she wants you to stop stalking her and give back the panties you stole-” </span><span><br/></span> <span>His cheeks burned brighter, but not from embarrassment… this time it was from being accused of something so foul. “I didn’t do that!” Ryunosuke yelled, now standing from the table to go tackle his sister, the two of them sprawling out in the hardwood hall. “Tell me what she really said, Saeko! Stop being a fuckin’ nutjob!” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>Saeko giggled and stashed his phone in the front pocket of her university sweatshirt, happily wrestling and biting at her brother. “I’ll tell you what she said when you tell me why you really transferred into the college prep class, shitstain,” she countered breathlessly. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Frustrated, Tanaka dove for his phone with one hand while holding her face down with his other hand and pinning Saeko’s hands beneath one of his knees. “Shut up,” he barked, only to be thrown off of her by a surprise twist of her legs. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With heaving breaths, Saeko scrambled to her feet and took off for her room while Ryunosuke tried to find his balance again. “You like her!” she screeched as she darted down the hall, phone brandished in the air over her head, “Just admit it, fuckstick, then I’ll give the phone back!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I hate you so much!” Ryunosuke yelled back, taking off after her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>The Future Mrs. Kano Tanaka:</b>
  
</p>
<p>
  <span>Here’s the address for the party, Tanaka. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And sorry I didn’t stick around to talk earlier… </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I had a meeting to get to. Nothing important.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>How are you doing on the English homework?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Tanaka:</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>this is saeko! HI BABE!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>i stole ryu-ryu’s phone &gt;3&gt;</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>i miss your beautiful faceee</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>when are you coming over again, girl?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>The Future Mrs. Kano Tanaka:</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>lol Hi Saeko &lt;3 </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>I guess I’ll be over the next time Tanaka needs tutoring?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Tanaka:</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>sooo….?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>The Future Mrs. Kano Tanaka:</b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Probably soon lol </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Boy slept through most of Speech yesterday</span>
</p>
<p>
  <b>Tanaka: </b>
</p>
<p>
  <span>oh no lol</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you’re the best</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>see you soon, babe</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>xo</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>❀</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After class the next day, Kano bolted to practice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She only looked back once, lingering in the classroom doorway to make eye contact with Tanaka, childishly sticking out her tongue as she pulled down on her lower eyelid. And then she was gone in a fit of giggles.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Cheeks warming, Ryunosuke chuckled and shook his head, slowly gathering his things and shoving them into his backpack. With his newfound knowledge of his crush, Tanaka couldn’t seem to keep up with their easy camaraderie anymore; every single thing out of his mouth took an extra beat to process... to make sure that it was perfect. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Would she think it was funny enough? Would she laugh? Would it make her smile? Would she finally tell him more about herself, finally open up? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Or would he fuck it up again? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of muttering brought Tanaka back to the present moment, and he focused on the two classmates chatting by the whiteboard - the only ones left except for him - as he placed his highlighters back into his pencil pouch one by one. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude, Kano’s looking </span>
  <em>
    <span>real</span>
  </em>
  <span> hot these days.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With just those few simple words, Tanaka’s stomach twisted in pretzels and acidic fury boiled in his throat. Against all instinct, he said nothing about it, and did nothing either… he merely continued to listen, quietly putting away his school supplies while he gathered intel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re telling me, bruh. I walk so slowly by the gym after school, just so I can watch her jump. That bounce… </span>
  <em>
    <span>mmm.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Chef’s kiss, you know? I would die a happy man if she crushed me between those thicc thighs during some unsavory activities.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The mechanical pencil in Ryunosuke’s hand creaked under the strain of his clenched fist. He could hear his teeth grinding. Every muscle in his body coiled tightly, preparing for the inevitable. His supplies were long forgotten, vision blurred crimson with rage. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Preaching to the choir man, but her tits are how I’d wanna go… just motorboat ‘em until I achieve enlightenment,” the taller one sighed wistfully, “And who knew all that hotness was hiding under a few pounds? I mean, I told her as much last year after she tried to wear those thigh-high socks and… well, you remember. It was like a car accident; I couldn’t look away. But it looks like she really took my advice to heart. She’s, like, model-material now, and it’s all thanks to me.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re a god among men-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ryunoske’s fist cut the kid off before he could finish his sentence. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Through his fury-tunneled vision, Tanaka was vaguely aware of someone shouting as he knocked the first fuck-faced kid to the floor, punching his classmate’s crap-lousy face over and over. The other, taller kid fought back for his friend, wailing on Tanaka’s face and arms until Ryunosuke was finished with the shorter one on the floor, blood trickling from the fucker’s nose and mouth. Then, Tanaka turned on the tall, foul-mouthed bastard, who’d been temporarily frozen in shock at the sight of his friend’s limp body... and literally peeing his pants. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Fleeting, feeble hands pulled at his collar and jacket and tie, but Tanaka didn’t bother turning to see who interrupted his vengeance, too focused on pummeling the shit out of the two motherfuckers who talked about goody-two-shoes, foul-mouthed, smartie pants, nerd extraordinaire, full-fledged goddess </span>
  <em>
    <span>Kano fucking Abe</span>
  </em>
  <span> like that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That is, until he felt the shaking fists clenching the back of his shirt. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And the tears soaking through. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He heard </span>
  <em>
    <span>her</span>
  </em>
  <span> voice. The only one that mattered. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ryunosuke, please… </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span> stop.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His given name on her tongue cut through the nightmare like a flashlight through fog, lighting his way back to the real world. Tanaka’s fist paused in mid-flight, halfway toward punching little baby pee-pants again. One by one, his senses flickered back on and Tanaka zoned back in: pain crackling in his knuckles and ricocheting in his tense jaw, his vision brightening and widening, the smell of blood and piss flooding his nostrils, his chest heaving with exertion and fading rage… and finally, the sound of breathless sobs just behind him. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Tear-streaked and wide-eyed, Kano knelt on the floor, her trembling fingers clutching at his jacket puddled on the floor at her knees; he’d wrenched it off in the midst of the fight, thinking a teacher was trying to stop him. She sniffled and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, choking as she tried to work her voice. “I-I just came back for my water bottle,” she explained, glancing between the two boys on the floor, before finally looking at Ryunosuke with her bloodshot eyes. “I tried to stop you… but you-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Tanaka blurted. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe because of the fear and guilt gripping his heart at seeing her cry… or maybe because she’d tried and failed to stop him before he went too far… or maybe because he was embarrassed that she’d seen him like this... </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Out of control. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Clearing her throat, Kano pushed to her feet, draping his jacket over her arm. Tanaka watched as, on shaky legs, she walked over to the two boys on the floor - recognizing them as Suzuki and Hashimoto - and said, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>No one</span>
  </em>
  <span> will be reporting this to the faculty or spreading this around school. Got it? Because if we hear one iota of a rumor about this, then I-” she paused, taking a picture of the two classmates on the floor, covered in blood and piss and tears, “I will send </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>to every single person in my contacts. And I’ll tell them exactly what happened here today. Deal?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Most of it was a bluff; Kano didn’t actually know what happened, but she expected to force the full story out of Tanaka sooner or later. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“D-DEAL!” Hashimoto and Suzuki were on their feet and out of the room before anyone could get another word in or stop them. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano’s shoulders jumped to her ears when the door slammed shut, wincing as if in pain. “You okay?” Tanaka asked softly, reaching his hand out toward her, noticing it all. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mm,” she grunted, gesturing for him to stay still with a wave of her hand. Without saying a word, Kano crossed the room to where she’d tossed her backpack across the linoleum upon finding the fight. She didn’t need to dig to find her emergency first aid kit in the front pocket. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>In a few steps, she knelt once more in front of Tanaka, mind obviously elsewhere as she forced him to sit and took his bloody knuckles up in her grip. Ignoring the tingling of his skin on hers, Kano worked methodically, deliberately, as she processed the fight. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She didn’t need to ask what happened to know that Ryunosuke would never throw punches unprovoked. He wanted to play volleyball, to graduate on time… and neither of those things would happen if he got detention or suspended or expelled. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When Kano dug deep, she wasn’t mad at him, not really. She was more scared than anything, worried that he’d gotten hurt. And she just needed to calm down more before she could speak to him again or acknowledge out loud that she just blackmailed two of their classmates. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kano, I…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With gauze unfurling in her nimble fingers, she glanced up from Ryunosuke’s knuckles, now covered in antibacterial ointment, at the sound of his whisper-thin voice. Kano raised a single eyebrow, her glacial gaze lingering momentarily on the shiny black eye already swelling on his face, waiting for Tanaka to continue. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hung his head, unable to face her icy stare at point-blank range. “I’m sorry, I-I shoulda- I coulda…” Ryunosuke’s voice trailed off, tears clawing at his throat. None of his words felt right. Justice hadn’t really been served. Not in his mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kano’s gentle touch never faltered from his calloused hands, continuing to bandage him up and listen. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They were talking shit about you, and being gross,” he finally managed, his eyes burning with unspent tears. “It was like they waited until the second you left to… to… ugh, goddammit.” He sniffled, trying to suck the stupid things back into his head, but it didn’t work.</span>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Gravity. What a bitch. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Gauze continued to weave between his fingers, tight but not uncomfortable. Kano listened, understanding why Tanaka felt the need to do something. If the situations were reversed - if she’d heard a bunch of girls spouting shit about her best friend and being lewd - then Kano would’ve stepped in too. Maybe she wouldn’t have punched anyone in the face, but that remained to be seen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Wiping his damp cheeks off on his shoulder, Tanaka sniffed again and said, “I’ve never really had a best friend who was a girl before… but I think it bugged me too because of Saeko. Like, I’d want her best friends to stand up for her if something like this happened to her, ya know? And all I could think was that those guys were talking shit when they</span>
  <em>
    <span> didn’t even know you!</span>
  </em>
  <span> And as your best friend, I couldn’t just let them-“ </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m not mad, Ryunosuke.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His heart slammed into his lungs, knocking the air from his chest as she said his name for the second time in recorded history. Tanaka stared incredulously at her, some strange magic filling his veins at the sound of his name in her mouth. “You… you’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>not?</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No,” Kano admitted, finishing off his first hand and moving onto the second. “I would’ve done the same thing if it was opposite. But just know… this doesn’t mean I want you fighting my battles for me.” She glanced up at him through her eyelashes, a small smirk teasing her features. “I’m a tough girl… tie my own sandals and everything.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pffft,” he snorted, wiping his tears with the heel of his bandaged hand, “You’re a dweeb. Who quotes </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hercules</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the middle of a serious conversation?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I do! And I’m not done yet. If you want me to finish fixing you up, you’ll have to sit through the rest of my movie quotes. You hear me?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh, okaaay. I hope they’re good ones.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...As you wish.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my goddd, leave me here to dieee…” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You are such a drama queen, Ryunosuke Tanaka! Die, then!” </span>
</p>
<p><span>“Okay, but before I reincarnate, let me tell you how </span><em><span>insanely</span></em> <em><span>hot</span></em><span> it was that you blackmailed those- OW! </span><em><span>Hey! </span></em><span>Injured man, over here! Just fought for your honor? Remember that?” </span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut up and let me fix your favorite spiking hand before it falls off.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes ma’am.” </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I feel like it takes a deft hand to turn a fight scene into a pile of fluff lol c:</p>
<p>PARTY TIME, Y'ALL!!! Who's excited for a house crammed full of hormonal teenagers?!?!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Ch.8 - The Party</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Last chapter, Kano invited Tanaka and the rest of the boys' volleyball team to a party with Nekoma that coming weekend. </p>
<p>That night, Tanaka worked on his homework while he waited for Kano to text him the address for the party, only for his sister, Saeko, to distract him. She stole his phone and teased him mercilessly about his slow-burn feelings toward Kano, all while wrestling him and being chased around the house. </p>
<p>Kano accidentally texted Saeko because of this, and their relationship became a little bit more clear. </p>
<p>The next day, after school, Kano raced from her classroom to head to volleyball practice, only slowing to make a goofy face at Tanaka. He packed up his things, lost in thought, and overheard some of their classmates being disgusting about Kano. Ryunosuke lost it and began to beat up the classmates, only for Kano to return and force him to stop. Kano blackmailed the boys before they fled and proceeded to patch up Ryu...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Longer chapter ahead, fair warning c:</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>❀</p>
<p>Fashionably late, Ryunosuke arrived with a handful of other boys from the volleyball club, courtesy of his getaway driver and favorite sister, Saeko.</p>
<p>“I’ll be here if you need anything,” she smirked, twirling a highlighter between her fingers, “Just holler if you need me to beat anyone up, <em>punk.</em>” Saeko pointed to her own eye with her highlighter, sticking her tongue out to tease him.</p>
<p>The black eye Tanaka got from his fight with Suzuki and Hashimoto looked even worse than it had that first day, shiny and deep dark violet. “Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled, waving her off with a bandaged hand as he followed his friends toward the address Kano texted him.</p>
<p>A sprawling mansion sat at the top of a long, landscaped driveway, outside lights bright but dark inside.</p>
<p>A few paces ahead, Nishinoya slowed with his hands in his pockets, waiting for Tanaka so they could walk into the party together. “Nervous?” Noya asked, his eyes on his sneakers and his shoulders bunched up by his ears to block out the cold.</p>
<p>“No… why would I be?” Tanaka scoffed.</p>
<p>Nishinoya laughed and followed their friends inside, holding the front door for Tanaka behind him. “Just saying, man... <em>your girl’s</em> here, she’s in street clothes, and not only are you competing with those insane first years from <em>our</em> team for her attention, but-“</p>
<p>Bone-numbing bass from a nearby room drowned out Noya’s next words as they entered the house. The lights were off throughout the enormous, maze-like house, but glowing string lights crisscrossed the ceiling, casting the wide halls and off-duty students in a golden, romantic glow. Sweat and body spray clogged the air.</p>
<p>“...You’ve got the rest of Nekoma likely begging for her attention, too.” Noya finished breathlessly, eyeing the fancy furniture and priceless decorations.</p>
<p>Raising their eyebrows at each other wordlessly, Nishinoya and Tanaka headed toward the music, threading through the busy bodies in the hall, and found the cavernous living room packed full of glistening, dancing people. A boy from Nekoma deejayed from his laptop, set up on a coffee table in the corner of the room. Color-changing track lights snuck around the edge of the wall near the baseboards, painting the room in shifting shadows and bright rainbow hues.</p>
<p>On the far wall from Nishinoya and Tanaka, a long, dark couch pressed up against the paint, packed with people; and crammed in the corner by a couple making out, Kano perched on the back in a red, off-the-shoulder crop top, high-waisted jeans, and red sneakers, her hair twisted up into two space buns. Between her legs, on the couch, sat Kenma Kozume, playing a video game and smiling as he held his console up for her to see. Kano laughed at something the setter said and lazily wrapped her arms around his shoulders, resting her chin on his head as she watched on, smirk painted in shimmering rainbows by the console screen.</p>
<p>Tanaka’s stomach dropped at the sight.</p>
<p>
  <em>Who </em>
  <b>
    <em>the fuck</em>
  </b>
  <em> did Kenma think he was?</em>
</p>
<p>But as if by magic, Kano raised her eyes from the handheld console and met Tanaka’s gaze across the room. Her small smile brightened by a million watts. She leaned down and whispered something to Kenma--which nearly forced Tanaka to put his head through the nearest wall--before untangling herself from Kenma, launching herself off of the couch, and dancing her way over toward Tanaka. The crowd of writhing bodies hindered her progress, so Tanaka nodded to Noya and took off to meet Kano in the middle of the dance floor.</p>
<p>“Hey!” He yelled over the brain-scrambling music, his hand finding hers in the crush of bodies. “You look gorgeous, babe!”</p>
<p>She’d checked him out when he walked in, saw his khaki joggers, fancy sneakers, and color-blocked tee, and Kano was instantly reminded that Tanaka was out of her league. The black eye and bandaged hands didn’t help his bad boy aesthetic either, scrambling her stomach in strange ways.</p>
<p>No matter how many times he flirted with her shamelessly, she knew it was all fake, that they were friends and nothing more; he was hot, popular, and athletic… so he’d never be serious about a girl like her. Not before, and not now.</p>
<p>
  <em>But two can play the flirting game.</em>
</p>
<p>Without flinching, Kano smirked and hooked her finger in Tanaka’s collar with her free hand, pulling him down to her height to say, “So do you, babe!” In his ear.</p>
<p>Cheeks flaring lava-hot, Tanaka swallowed at the feel of her warm breath fanning his neck. When he looked at her, their faces mere inches apart, her lips parted briefly before curving into a small smile and her eyes crinkled with excitement. No longer able to tell what was bass and what was his heart pounding in his ears, Tanaka weighed his options: <em>make her laugh? Get her a drink? Find someplace to talk?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>Maybe he just just fucking <strong>go for it</strong> and kiss her senseless in front of everyone?</em>
</p>
<p>...He settled for the first three.</p>
<p>After jerking his head toward the hall and receiving a giddy nod in return, Tanaka dragged Kano through the surge of bodies by their still-connected hands. He tried not to think about how she hadn’t pulled away from his grip yet, how she hadn’t rejected him, but the electricity between their palms was impossible to ignore. Squeezing her hand in his, he glanced back at her, and she responded with a similar grip, sticking her tongue out at him through her wide smile.</p>
<p>They snuck through the crammed, stuffy hall, finding the clinically clean kitchen at the back of the house. Empty and quiet, the kitchen seemed like the perfect place to catch up and talk. And it was for a few minutes. Tanaka poured them both a cup of cream soda, before they hopped up on a clean patch of countertop and started talking with their heads resting on the upper cabinets. Internally, Tanaka knew he could spend the whole night that way - just talking to Kano and sipping cream soda, staring into her sky blue eyes and teasing more information out of her.</p>
<p>But nothing good lasts forever.</p>
<p>A tall, dark-haired boy entered the kitchen with a sloppy grin plastered on his face, searching for something, no, <em>someone</em> in particular. “<em>There</em> you are, shmoopsy poo!” Kuroo yelled, throwing his arms up in the air and beelining it for the two kids on the counter. “Kenny said you diiitched him, and he already tried to go home! How <em>dare</em> he, am I right? I’m right. You don’t have to say it. We both know.” He wrapped his arms around Kano’s shoulders, nuzzling his cheek against one of the buns on her head. The smell of alcohol radiated off of him like he’d bathed in it. And knowing Kuroo, it was possible... he'd had plenty of drinks thrown on him before. “I’ve missed you, you know, shmoopsy.”</p>
<p>Swirling her soda, Kano sighed. “I babysit enough as is, Tetsuro. I’m not going to watch a grown-ass adult just because you don’t want to. Zuzu can leave if he wants, and I wouldn’t stop him. And fine… I missed you guys too. But only a little tiny bit. Like, a teaspoon of missing you, and a cup of missing Kenma. That’s it.” She patted his spiky hair, pursing her lips and looking generally displeased.</p>
<p>Boiling with white-hot jealousy, Tanaka watched on in horror as the scene unfolded before him. </p>
<p><em>Who was this asshole in relation to his future wife, and why was she letting him hang all over her?</em> </p>
<p>He cleared his throat and gestured to the unwelcome intruder, hoping to get the Nekoma student off of his girl ASAP. “Uh, babe? What’s-?”</p>
<p>
  <em>What the fuck was happening right now?</em>
</p>
<p>“Oh, sorry,” Kano said, poking Kuroo in between the eyes. “This is Tetsuro Kuroo, my friend from-”</p>
<p>“No, no, I know who that asshole is,” Tanaka said, waving his hand at the tall Nekoma student like he’d go away if Tanaka ignored him hard enough, “What I wanna know is why he’s hanging off of you like that and talking nonsense.”</p>
<p>“Yeaaah, Kanooo~” Kuroo drunkenly agreed with a sly grin, dragging a sloppy finger over her cheek, “Why <em>do</em> I get to hang on you like this? You haven’t even hit me yet! And while we’re interro- interrupt- <em>asking questions</em>… why’s he calling you ‘babe’, huh?” He pointed accusingly at Tanaka, his swerving finger drifting from Tanaka’s black eye to his nose and back. “You dating this gangster, Kano Cane?”</p>
<p>Tanaka bristled, straightening up on the countertop. “<em>You</em> were the one who called her ‘shmoopsy poo’ you bastard!” Tanaka yelled back, starting to get riled up. His grip on his cup tightened, the plastic crumpling in his fingers. “And so what if she <em>is</em> dating me, huh? That make you mad, emo boy? That make you <em>jealous?</em>”</p>
<p>Kano took a deep breath and rolled her eyes. “<em>Pleeease</em> stop.” The pissing contest in front of her was getting annoying and out of hand. With Kuroo drunk, she knew it wouldn’t go anywhere good anytime soon. And Tanaka--</p>
<p>“Maybe I am a little jealous!”</p>
<p>Soda flew out of Kano’s nose like a backed up faucet. “<em>Excuse</em> me?” she coughed, chin dripping with booger-soda as she gaped at Kuroo.</p>
<p>“Yeah, you heard me,” Kuroo said, retracting his arms from Kano’s shoulders and crossing them over his chest, squinting down at Tanaka even though he was talking to her. “I would be jealous if you dated this delinquent bastard.”</p>
<p>“I’m not, though!” Kano said, smacking him in the bicep, “And I’m not dating you, either, asswipe! So stop being an idiot and let me enjoy this party! Can’t a girl hang out with her best friend without getting grilled? Jesus <em>fuck</em>. Go away, Tetsu, I hate you when you’re drunk.” She took a long, fizzy sip of her drink and frowned, turning back to Kuroo. “Wait, why the fuck are you even here? You graduated, you asshole. I figured you just let Kenma in and said ‘good luck’.”</p>
<p>Kuroo smirked and grabbed Kano’s chin between his fingers, wiggling her face back and forth as he said, “My parties are legendary, shmoopsy. And where better to have a Nekoma party than at my legendary party palace? Gotta keep an eye on you and Kenma somehow, right? One weekend away from college won’t kill me.”</p>
<p>Slapping his hand away, Kano hopped down from the counter and grabbed Tanaka’s hand, pulling him with her. “I’m not talking to you again until you’re sober and nice again, Kuroo, you fuckin’ dumbass rooster head.”</p>
<p>Zoned out long ago, Tanaka only resurfaced from ruminating about Kano calling him <em>her best friend</em> to realize they were holding hands yet again. He stumbled, following her out of the kitchen and into the backyard as Kuroo yelled at their retreating backs, “Oh, <em>last names</em> now? Real classy, <em>ABE!</em> Grow up!”</p>
<p>Pissed off and fuming, Kano stomped across Kuroo’s expansive backyard, ignoring the pool full of empty bottles and the trampoline full of frisky teenagers, only to slow at the empty hot tub in the far corner of the yard, kicking off her shoes and socks and shoving her legs into the hot water without rolling up her jeans. Tiki torches placed strategically around the yard flickered in the crisp evening breeze.</p>
<p>Tanaka stood beside her, a million questions buzzing in his sugared-up brain.</p>
<p>“What,” Kano spat, staring into the bubbles and steam. Her heart rate was finally evening out, pulse slowing. But mostly she was just shoving the anger into a different corner of her heart so she could be righteously pissed off later when it was safe.</p>
<p>Silently, Tanaka took off his sneakers and socks too, yanking his joggers up to his knees before settling into the hot tub beside Kano. He left an arm’s length of space between them. Just in case. “You okay?” he said softly, leaning back on his hands and watching her stony expression for signs of lies.</p>
<p>Kano sucked her teeth and flopped back onto the grass, staring up at the vague, smog-smeared stars with her arms outstretched. “I hate it here,” she admitted.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?” Tanaka asked, settling onto the grass beside her, his arms behind his head.</p>
<p>Searching for the right words, Kano turned her head toward Tanaka, picking at the manicured grass between them and imagining each blade with Kuroo’s stupid face on it as she tore it apart in her fingers. “Parties, for one. I only came because Kenny begged me to. But two, I hate drunk people and drinking in general. And three, I hate Nekoma… I would’ve gone here. Had I stayed, I mean,” she explained all in a rush, the stored anger in her heart dissipating the longer she spoke.</p>
<p>“Stayed?” Tanaka prompted, turning to look at Kano, who busily peeled blades of grass in two between her long fingers. He could watch her do that all night. Forever, even.</p>
<p>She sighed. “I moved to Miyagi when I was eight. Before that, I lived here, which is how I know Kuroo and Kenma. We were in the same class for… well, pretty much our whole childhood. Kuroo’s dad worked with my parents at the hospital, and Kenma’s parents met mine at a school mixer of some kind. And the rest is history.” Kano peeked up at Tanaka, surprised to find him already looking at her. “So, in case you’re wondering, there’s nothing going on between me and the rooster. Or me and Kenny. I’ve seen them pee their pants before, and there’s no way to bounce back from that in my opinion.”</p>
<p>Tanaka smiled at that, a laugh bubbling out of his chest like soda fizz and confetti. “Guess that kid I beat up is off my list then, huh? And... I guess Noya too?”</p>
<p>“Pffft,” Kano snickered, “Now you’ve gotta tell me the story behind that.” She scooted closer, nearly shoulder to shoulder with Tanaka, her bright blue eyes laser focused on him. “Come on, spill.”</p>
<p>Breathless and flushed, Tanaka tried to reconnect his brain to the rest of his body. Her proximity warmed him from head to toe, painfully aware of how she was only a breath away.</p>
<p>
  <em>And within kissing distance.</em>
</p>
<p>“I- uh…” he floundered, words failing to make it from his thoughts to his mouth.</p>
<p>“You okay?” Kano asked, propping herself up on her elbow to get a better look at her best friend. She pressed the palm of her hand to his reddened cheeks and forehead in turn, raising an eyebrow. “You’re warm. Are you sick? You should go home-”</p>
<p>Acting on instinct and hormones, Tanaka reached out his hand, tucking a stray wisp of her midnight-dark hair behind her ear, letting his touch and his gaze linger on her jaw. He carefully avoided looking at her lips, knowing if he did, he’d never stop, and instead searched for her eyes.</p>
<p>Their gazes met under the flickering light. Kano wasn’t sure what was happening, but it didn’t scream <em>STOP</em> like it usually did when a boy teasingly flirted with her. Something about the intensity in Tanaka’s eyes made him seem… <em>serious.</em> She followed his touch, leaning in closer and never looking away.</p>
<p>
  <em>Was she really going to kiss him? Were they really about to-?</em>
</p>
<p>“There you are!”</p>
<p>Kano jumped away from Tanaka like he’d electrocuted her, nearly falling into the hot tub fully clothed in her mad dash to scramble away from him and feign a chaste distance. Her embarrassed heart beat a million miles an hour in her ribcage, eyes wide while she buried her face in her hands, listening to the rustle of the grass of the ginger kid from the boys’ team skipping over toward them.</p>
<p>“Noya said you’re the best at beer pong, senpai,” Hinata crowed, totally oblivious to the moment he just ruined as he yanked on Tanaka’s arm. “You gotta be on my team! Come on!”</p>
<p>With her wet shins pulled up to her body, Kano peeked out from behind her trembling fingers, watching as Tanaka sighed and stood, rubbing the back of his head. “Just give me a sec, Hinata. I’ll be right there,” he said softly, grabbing his shoes.</p>
<p>“We gotta go like, <em>now,</em>” Hinata whined, hopping from foot to foot and tugging on Tanaka’s shirtsleeve. “The tournament’s starting any second, senpai! Let’s go!”</p>
<p>“Kano? You comin’?” Tanaka said, unrolling his pants and shoving his socks and shoes on, unsure how to take her flustered reaction. But… if he was understanding right… <em>they’d almost just kissed.</em> For real. And that seemed like a massive step in the right direction.</p>
<p>Without a word, Kano got to her feet, grabbed her sneakers, and stormed past the two boys, skirting around the perimeter of the house.</p>
<p>
  <em>Or not.</em>
</p>
<p>Hinata and Tanaka watched her go in silence, and Hinata waited until she was out of sight before saying, “I think you made her mad, senpai.”</p>
<p>Tanaka wrestled his kohai into a headlock, forcing a noogie upon the ginger until he screamed bloody murder. “This is your fault, you butt-weasel baby carrot!”</p>
<p>❀</p>
<p>Out front, Kano stumbled down Kuroo’s winding driveway in her bare feet.</p>
<p>Confusing tears burned in her eyes. She didn’t know why she felt this way, or what any of it meant… holding Tanaka’s hand willingly, Kuroo’s sudden jealousy, the almost kiss…</p>
<p>
  <em>Why did all of it just anger her more?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Why did she want to break something?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Would that even help?</em>
</p>
<p>With shaking fingers, Kano shoved her shoes under her arm and pulled her phone from her pocket to call for an Uber, the screen blurring through her tears. A mirthless laugh slipped between her clenched teeth, and she let her head fall back, tears cascading over her beet red cheeks, taking a long deep breath to refocus and feel the cool night air.</p>
<p>“Babe? What are you doing?”</p>
<p>The familiar voice brought a weak smile to Kano’s face. She opened her eyes, searching for the source of the call, and found Saeko sitting in her car across the street, hanging out the window with her cheeks in her palms. “Plenty of room in here,” Saeko smiled, gesturing to the car like she was on a game show, “And ideal for gossiping or venting or the much-needed cry sesh.”</p>
<p>Kano choked on a sob, jogging across the street and throwing herself into the passenger seat. Without any words, she hugged Saeko, crying into the shoulder of the older girl’s college hoodie.</p>
<p>Surprised at the outburst from the usually-so-stoic Kano Abe, Saeko Tanaka patted the girl’s back as she sorted through her emotions, feeling what she needed to feel. Saeko sighed while she took Kano’s space buns down, allowing her hair to relax. “What happened, babe? Who did this to you? Want me to beat them up?”</p>
<p>A wet chuckle and head shaking came from Kano, her eyelashes all stuck together and makeup running as she finally looked up at her savior.</p>
<p>“You can’t beat me up, Saeko. I brought this on myself.” </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Playlist available on my Spotify, titled WILDFLOWER, username: klaxdal</p></blockquote></div></div>
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